Briefs

News Corp.’s board is expected to approve a plan to break up the company into two entities, freeing up its profitable entertainment business from the slower-growth publishing unit. Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of the $53 billion media company, bowed to pressure to accept the split, after a phone-hacking scandal last year at one of its U.K. tabloids, said a person with knowledge of the matter. News Corp. derives at least 70 percent of its profit from television, yet its shares have long traded at a discount to those of media peers. The stock jumped 8.3 percent on June 26, when news of the possible restructuring broke.

Best Buy founder Richard Schulze is exploring taking the electronics retailer private and possibly selling his 20 percent stake, according to a person familiar with the matter. Schulze stepped down as chairman on June 7 after an internal probe found he failed to inform the company’s board about allegations that then-CEO Brian Dunn was having an inappropriate relationship with a female employee. Best Buy posted a net loss of $1.23 billion last year, its first annual loss since 1991.