Rupert Murdoch is stepping down from newspaper boards in the UK and the US, a spokesperson has confirmed to the Telegraph.

The News Corp boss has left the boards in charge of the scandal-hit UK newspapers - NI Group, Times Newspaper Holdings and News Corp Investments. There are also reports he has stepped down from News Corp boards in the US, though exactly which boards has not been specified yet.

Murdoch has been tweeting today, but doesn't seem to have commented yet. Following the announcement that Murdoch would spin off News Corps' publishing division, there's plenty of people wondering if this is the next step in Murdoch's plan to get rid of the publishing division completely.

News Corp are playing down the rumors, telling the Telegraph it is “nothing more than a corporate housecleaning exercise prior to the company split”.

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