News of the World registry. In 2006, reporters at the paper used private investigators to illegally gain access to hundreds of mobile phone voicemail accounts held by a variety of people of interest to the newspaper. In 2007 the paper's royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, pleaded guilty to illegal interception of personal communication and was jailed for four months; the paper's editor, Andy Coulson, had resigned two weeks earlier. In 2009/2010, further revelations emerged on the extent of the phone hacking, and how it was common knowledge within the "News of the World" and its News International parent. According to a former reporter at the
News media phone hacking scandal illegal acquisition of information from a mobile phone as recently as 2010. In the months following "The Guardian" article regarding Milly Dowler, the fallout from the phone hacking scandal had many adverse commercial consequences for News Corporation. "News of the World" was shut down after 168 years in business and News Corp. withdrew its $12 billion bid for British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (BSkyB), reportedly the biggest reverse of Rupert Murdoch's career. News Corp. lost its contract bid with the NY State Comptroller over concerns about the phone-hacking scandal. The legal bills and settlement of suits cost News Corp. hundreds