New York: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Said today it was selling a group of 11 community newspapers as part of a move to globalise and digitise its publishing operations.
News Corp., which was formed when Murdoch broke up his corporate empire into two separate units, did not disclose the terms of the sale of Community Newspaper Group (CNG) to Les and Jennifer Goodstein, owners of a group of New York city neighborhood publications.
The sale "helps us reshape the News Corp portfolio as we achieve greater globalisation and digitisation of our businesses with an eye towards long-term growth," said Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp.
CNG is a network of 11 community newspapers and web sites, including Caribbean Life, The Brooklyn Paper, The BronxTimes Reporter, Bay News and Bay Ridge Courier, Bayside Times and TimesLedger.
The publications will go to the Goodsteins, who operate The Villager, Downtown Express, Gay City News, East Villager News and Chelsea Now.
Les Goodstein is a former News Corp executive who ran CNG between 2006 and 2013.
The move follows News Corp's sale last year of the Dow Jones Local Media Group, which operated 33 publications.
Last year's breakup of Murdoch's empire led to the creation of 21st Century Fox, which operates the Fox Hollywood studios and television assets, and News Corp., which owns newspapers in Australia and Britain as well as The Wall Street Journal and New York Post in the United States.
