LONDON — Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is leaving the east London location whose name has become synonymous with the revolution which the magnate brought to Britain's media.

In a statement released Friday the New York-based film, television, and publishing conglomerate said it was pulling its U.K. newspapers from their base in Wapping, an east London former industrial area, to a new home in the shadow of The Shard, the capital's tallest skyscraper.

Wapping became the scene of one of the most bitter industrial disputes in recent British history when Murdoch moved his newspaper operation there from its traditional home on London's Fleet Street in 1986. The surprise move weakened Britain's once-powerful printing unions and laid the foundation for a modernized U.K. newspaper industry.

News Corp. said the move will begin next year.