NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Activist hedge fund

Starboard Value more than tripled its stake in class A shares of

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp ( NWSA ) in the first quarter,

according to a securities filing on Wednesday.

At the end of March, Starboard held roughly 6 million class

A shares in the media empire, or $156 million, versus 1.7

million shares in December.

The hedge fund also held 8.7 million class B shares in News

Corp ( NWSA ) in March, the same amount as of December.

In October, Reuters said Starboard had bought shares of News

Corp ( NWSA ) to call for change in Murdoch's company. Later, Starboard

Value's CEO Jeff Smith said the media empire should consider

spinning off some of its assets to unlock value.

Class A shares in News Corp ( NWSA ) are up roughly 6% this year.