21st Century Fox said that senior VP, ground general counsel and chief compliance officer Gerson Zweifach will step down after the company completes its sale of assets to the Walt Disney Co.
Zwiefach will return to the law firm Williams & Connelly, where he worked before joining Fox.
“Gerson is one of the brightest legal minds in the business and has been instrumental in our growth having successfully led our legal and policy strategies across the globe. We are grateful for his unwavering leadership during a transformational period for our business. We support his decision to depart at the close of the Disney transaction and wish him much continued success at Williams & Connolly,” 21st Century Fox co-chairs Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch said in a statement.
Zweifach joined the company after its U.K. newspaper News of the World was embroiled in a phone hacking scandal.
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While he was there, he helped guide the company through the sexual harassment issues at Fox News that led to the departures of chairman Roger Ailes and top-rated host Bill O’Reilly, a bid for Time Warner and the asset sale to Disney
“Over the past six and a half years I have benefited from the staunch support of Rupert, Lachlan, James, and our Board, John Nallen and my colleagues who practice law with me here and around the world,” said Zweifach. “I am going to see our Disney transaction through, and then it’s time for me to end my working sabbatical and return home. I will be forever grateful to Rupert for giving me this opportunity.”
