NEW YORK, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- News Corp. has lined up its new management team as it moves toward next week's expected takeover of Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal in New York.
The team will be headed by veteran News Corp. executive Leslie Hinton and Times of London Editor Robert Thomson, who is expected to be appointed Journal publisher, reporting to Hinton, now executive chairman of News International in London.
Rupert Murdoch's $5 billion acquisition is expected to be approved by shareholders at a Thursday meeting, ending nearly a century of control by the Bancroft family, the journal reported Friday.
Murdoch's oldest son and heir apparent, James Murdoch, 34, will have an expanded role as chairman of British Sky Broadcasting.
In advance of the Murdoch era, Dow Jones Chief Executive Richard Zannino announced his resignation Thursday, effective when the deal becomes official.
Among the executives expected to follow were the Journal's publisher, Gordon Crovitz, Dow Jones Chief Financial Officer Bill Plummer, General Counsel Joseph A. Stern and the company's corporate communications chief, Linda Dunbar.
Crovitz is expected to write a column for the editorial page.
