(Credit: News International , screenshot)

Rupert Murdoch resigned this month from the boards of “the NI Group, Times Newspaper Holdings and News Corp Investments in the UK,” the UK Telegraph reported.

News Corporation is quoted as saying that Murdoch’s move is “nothing more than a corporate housecleaning exercise prior to the company split,” referring to the plans to divide News Corp.’s entertainment and news sides.

We wrote in November 2011 when Murdoch’s son James resigned from the boards of News Group Newspapers Limited and Times Newspapers Limited.  In April, he also resigned as the chairman of British Sky Broadcasting.