However, News Corp board member Thomas Perkins said that Mr Murdoch had the full support of the company's board of directors, and was not considering elevating a senior executive to replace him amid a phone-hacking scandal in Britain. In an interview with The Associated Press, Mr Perkins said a succession plan had long been in place but has not been brought up in light of recent revelations that News Corp journalists hacked phones and may have paid British police for scoops. And Reuters cited a board member as saying News Corp independent directors were fully behind Mr Murdoch and his management team and were not drawing up plans to promote Mr Carey to the position of CEO. The Bloomberg report said the News Corp board met overnight to discuss replacing Murdoch but the board member and another person familiar with the company had denied this, Reuters said. "There was no meeting of independent directors. This board totally supports the top management. We're united behind him," the board member said.

The second person said the board has had a succession plan in place for some time and it regularly reevaluates those plans. "Suggestions that a plan is being accelerated or implemented are inaccurate," the person said. 'Surprise move' CMC Markets chief strategist Michael McCarthy said, “somebody’s drawing a long bow here” in regards to speculation Mr Murdoch would resign his position. “It would be surprising if Mr Murdoch stepped down on basis of one testimony to parliament,” he said. Despite the political and public backlash, the non-newspaper parts of News Corp, which account for 70 per cent of profits, are likely to be unaffected, said Mr McCarthy.

Morningstar senior equity analyst Tim Montague-Jones, who follows but doesn't issue ratings on News Corp said, “it’s difficult to see how this thing is going to unravel and what the longer-term regulatory framework that might be put in place to reduce the concentration of ownership of media”. “I think you’d be a little cautious buying News Corp at the moment because its impossible to predict what’s going to come out of the cupboard,” said Mr Montague-Jones. On fundamentals News stock is very cheap, said Mr Montague-Jones, but the regulatory risk is so big that estimating the value of the whole might not be accurate in the current situation. Preparing for change

Even the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Mr Murdoch had been considering stepping down as CEO in favour of chief operating officer Chase Carey.

"Even before the scandal erupted in recent weeks, the elder Murdoch had considered stepping down as CEO in favour of chief operating officer Chase Carey, according to people familiar with the situation," the Journal reported, adding that under that scenario, Mr Murdoch would remain as executive chairman. The switch had been under consideration for more than a year, said the Journal. "Even if Mr Murdoch decides to make this change, he wouldn't do it right now, the person said. Instead it would likely happen in several months' time, when presumably the furore had died down," the Journal said, quoting its source. A switch now, however, even if long intended, would have enormous symbolic significance, the newspaper added. Concern over fallout

News Corp executives who watched Mr Murdoch, 80, rehearse for his appearance before Parliament were concerned about how he handled questions, Bloomberg said citing three people who were not authorised to speak publicly. Mr Murdoch is scheduled to discuss the company's role in the phone hacking of murder victims, members of the royal family and others by the News of the World tabloid, which was closed last week. Board members and executives at News Corp are concerned about Mr Murdoch's ability to contain the fallout from the scandal, which led to the arrest of the company's top publishing executive in Britain, Rebekah Brooks, the people said, according to Bloomberg. Independent directors considered naming Mr Carey chief executive, according to a person close to the board. The directors, who did not make a decision, discussed whether the sharemarket and investors would react favourably to a change, the person said. News Corp's independent directors, who hold nine of 16 board seats, have expressed frustration over the quality and quantity of information they have received about the scandal and concern about management's ability to handle the crisis, given how slowly the company has responded, a person with knowledge of the situation said overnight.

According to News Corp's proxy, independent board member Rod Eddington, the former chief executive of British Airways, is the company’s lead director. Loading He has the responsibility to call meetings of the non-executive directors or independent directors and to serve as a liaison between the chairman and the independent board members. Reuters, Bloomberg, AP, with Chris Zappone, BusinessDay