News Corp. Board Knew a Decade Ago About Computer Hacking By US Subs, Amended Suit Says
An amended lawsuit filed by News Corp. shareholders in Delaware Chancery Court today says the company’s board knew a decade ago that its U.S. subsidiaries were hacking competitors’ computers, Reuters reports.
In addition to phone hacking on behalf of some of its journalists in the United Kingdom that is the subject of ongoing investigations in both countries, the suit says the board has long known that subsidiaries News America Marketing and NDS Group were involved in improper conduct intended to harm competitors, according to Bloomberg.
“For more than a decade, News Corp. subsidiaries have engaged in highly improper practices that have subjected News Corp. to great financial and reputational damage,” plaintiff Amalgamated Bank of New York, which is representing shareholders, said in the second amended complaint filed today in the Wilmington, Del., case. “This misconduct was so pervasive that the News Corp. board must have either been aware of the wrongdoing or was deliberately indifferent to the corporate culture that encouraged this type of behavior.”
Bloomberg said the company declined to comment.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “News Reports Claim Murdoch Entities May Have Hacked and Bullied at US Companies, Too”
ABAJournal.com: “‘Smoking Gun’ Letter Redacted By News of World Publisher Said Editors Knew of Phone Hacking in 2007”
