FACTBOX - Who is James Murdoch?

Tipped as heir to the News Corp media empire, Rupert Murdoch's youngest son James, 38, is under pressure to show he can contain a scandal over illegal phone hacking that is damning the family's name and slashing by the day the value of its media assets.

Here are some facts about James Murdoch:

RISE TO THE TOP

-- His appointment as chief executive of the British broadcaster BSkyB in 2003 was initially met with accusations of nepotism, but he impressed analysts and investors by broadening the company, of which News Corp owns 39 percent, from a pure pay-TV offering to include broadband and telephony.

-- In March 2011, News Corp promoted James to deputy chief operating officer, a move that appeared to mark him as eventual successor to his 80-year-old father.

-- James Murdoch has stirred up controversy during his rise to power, notably in August 2009, when he used a keynote speech at a major TV festival to launch a blistering attack on Britain's state-owned broadcaster, the BBC , echoing his father's speech from the same platform 20 years earlier.

-- The younger Murdoch called the BBC's expansion plans "chilling" and accused the corporation of distorting competition by dumping free, state-sponsored news on the market.

LIFE DETAILS

-- Born in December 1972, James is the youngest of Rupert Murdoch's three children from his first marriage. He has a sister, Elisabeth, and a brother, Lachlan.

-- Schooled in New York, James studied film and history at Harvard University, but dropped out in 1995 without completing his degree.

-- Gaining a reputation as the family rebel, he started a hip-hop record company, Rawkus Records, which was bought by News Corp in 1996.

-- The same year he was appointed chairman of another News Corp music label, Australia-based Festival Records. He went on to take charge of the company's fledgling Internet operations.

-- When News Corp's Internet business was founded in the early days of the dot-com boom to house websites such as FoxNews.com, James was made president of the unit and managed investments in TheStreet.com, PlanetRx and Healtheon/WebMD.

-- As boom turned to bust, News Corp had to write off much of its $1 billion investment with Healtheon/WebMD.

-- Wired magazine reported in 2000: "Although Murdoch Junior denies any responsibility for focusing his father on the Internet -- 'It wasn't me! It wasn't me!' he cries in mock horror -- insiders say he's been very influential."

-- As the dot-coms imploded, James Murdoch went to Hong Kong in 2000 as chairman and CEO of News Corp's Asian satellite service, Star TV, remaining there for three years before taking up the top job at BSkyB in 2003.

-- In 2007 he took over the leadership of News International, News Corp's British newspaper stable and owner of the News of the World, Britain's biggest selling Sunday paper, in his role as News Corp's chairman and chief executive for Europe and Asia. In 2009 he became News International's executive chairman as Rebekah Brooks became its chief executive.

SCANDAL AT NEWS OF THE WORLD

-- As allegations multiplied that its journalists had hacked into the voicemails of thousands of people, from child murder victims to the families of Britain's war dead, the tabloid haemorrhaged advertising, alienated millions of readers and posed a growing threat to Murdoch's hopes of buying broadcaster BSkyB .

-- Murdoch had been battling to win approval for the proposed $14 billion buyout of BSkyB, of which he is a former chief executive.

-- It fell to James Murdoch to announce that the paper would close after a final edition on July 10.