News Corp Australia has recruited Rob Ure from Wesfarmers to a new role in strategic planning and M&A activity.

The appointment as director of strategy and mergers and acquisitions, announced by chief financial officer Michael Ford, is effective from November 16.

He said Ure will "guide, influence and deliver key outcomes" for News' growth strategy. "Rob's skills and diverse industry experience will be invaluable to News as we progress our digital strategy and identify growth opportunities," he said.

"Rob will play a key role in our growth agenda, bringing together his deep strategy and M&A experience across large corporates and investment banks domestically, in the US and Asia."

Ure described News as a company that's "always excelled at merger and acquisition activity", and said he was excited to be joining at an important time in its evolution.

Most recently he was general manager of business development at Wesfarmers where his focus was on acquisition activity and significant strategic digital projects, having honed his skills during a long tenure as an investment banker at Macquarie Capital, where he specialised in gaming. Previously, he was group general manager M&A and corporate development at Coca-Cola Amatil for four-and-a-half years, where he also identified, assessed and executed "select strategic and operational projects".