Many shareholders voted to remove Murdoch sons

THE MURDOCHS faced their own back-bench rebellion last Friday, it transpires, with a third of News Corp shareholders voting against James and Lachlan Murdoch being re-elected to the board.

Voting figures from News Corp’s annual meeting in Los Angeles were released yesterday, and reveal a strong internal backlash to the phone-hacking scandal.

Almost 35 per cent voted against James Murdoch, who is the company's deputy chief operating officer, remaining on the board, while 34 per cent voted against his brother. News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch received 14 per cent of "no" votes.

Discounting the 40 per cent of shares owned by the Murdoch family, and another seven per cent  owned by their ally the Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, over half of the remaining shareholders voted ‘No’ to the family.

One of the dissidents, Anne Simpson, senior portfolio manager at the California Public Employees Retirement System, told the BBC: "I think this really tells the board that investors are looking for change, they're looking for robust independence. They are quite properly expecting due process for all concerned, but the real concern is that this is a board in need of rejuvenation and it's really in need of some robust independent oversight."

Many shareholders are angry with the Murdochs' failure to stamp on the phone hacking scandal which led to the profitable News of the World title being shut down.

As The First Post reported last week, the annual meeting took place against a backdrop of protests, with investor advisory group ISS encouraging shareholders to dump the Murdochs. On the day, angry demonstrations were held against the family outside the Fox studios in Hollywood where the meeting was held, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Despite the criticism, all 15 nominees to the board were re-elected. It remains to be seen whether embarrassment will turn into a serious threat to the Murdochs’ control of News Corp. ·