Problems mount for Rupert Murdoch

For News Corp. (NWS) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, all of the news lately has been bad.

His long time right-hand man Peter Chernin reportedly is leaving his role as company president, and his daughter Elisabeth turned down a spot on News Corp's board because it would have required her to sever ties with a television production company she has spent seven years building.

Investors are growing tired of Murdoch. His $5 billion purchase of Dow Jones & Co. was not about creating shareholder value. It was about gaining political influence. The offer to the Bancroft family, which largely stopped caring about Dow Jones generations ago, was so off the charts that they would have been insane to turn him down. Since then, News Corp has been working feverishly to cut costs through layoffs.