James Murdoch to quit as GlaxoSmithKline director

James Murdoch will exit as an outside director of GlaxoSmithKline at its annual shareholders' meeting later this year, the giant pharmaceutical company said today. Pressured by a phone-hacking scandal in Britain, Murdoch resigned from the boards of News Corp.'s U.K. newspapers last fall. ''James has taken this decision to focus on his current duties as non-executive chairman of BSkyB, and following his decision to re-locate to the United States, as chairman and chief executive, international, of News Corporation,'' London-based GSK said.''On behalf of the board, I would like to thank James for the very strong contribution he has made since he was appointed in 2009 and wish him well for the future.''In November, News International said Murdoch no longer sits on the boards of News Group Newspapers, which publishes The Sun, or of Times Newspapers, which publishes The Times and The Sunday Times of London. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com