Church Of England Sells $3M In News Corp. Shares

LONDON (AP) — The Church of England says it has sold its shareholding in Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. because of findings that the media giant was involved in phone hacking.

The church says in a statement Tuesday it is not satisfied that News Corp. has shown, or is likely to show, a commitment to reform its business practices following evidence of illegal eavesdropping at the defunct News of the World newspaper.

Church official Andrew Brown says the decision to sell the 1.9 million pounds (US$3 million) in News Corp. shares followed a year of inconclusive dialogue between News Corp. executives and members of the church’s ethical investment committee.

The Church of England has three funds holding assets worth 8 billion pounds ($12.5 billion).