News Corp shareholders step up bid to oust James Murdoch

Shareholders already drafting resolutions ahead of AGM to call for James Murdoch to be removed from News Corp board Shareholders are planning to step up their campaign to oust James Murdoch from News Corp following his decision to quit the UK and return to New York. News Corp announced on Wednesday that Murdoch was giving up his position as executive chairman of News International – the British publishing division hit by the phone-hacking scandal – and returning to New York “to assume a variety of essential corporate leadership mandates”. Shareholders are already drafting resolutions ahead of this year’s annual general meeting to step up pressure for change at the media firm. The deadline to file is May. “It’s business as usual,” said Julie Tanner, director of socially responsible investing at shareholder Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS). “This is a very minor step in the right direction. I have not seen any significant changes in governance policies or a code of ethics.” CBIS led last year’s shareholder revolt against the Murdochs at News Corp’s AGM. That vote ended with 35% of shareholders voting against James Murdoch’s re-election to the board. After subtracting the shares controlled by Rupert Murdoch, 67% of the vote went against James Murdoch. “Given these ongoing allegations, I expect the vote against will be even larger this year,” she said. The Rev Seamus Finn, of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, who also voted against Rupert and James Murdoch and other senior executives at News Corp’s annual general meeting last year, said: “This raises further concerns about the way this company is governed.” “It is clear to us that there are too many conflicts of interest in the way this company is run.” Change To Win (CtW), an advisory group that works with pension funds with over $200bn in assets, also called for Murdoch to resign. Senior policy analyst Michael Pryce-Jones said Murdoch should resign from News Corp and from Sotheby’s, the auction house where he is also a director. CtW has written to Sotheby’s chairman Michael Sovern calling for Murdoch’s removal. “This has been a very bad week for James, who knows what next week will bring,” said Pryce-Jones. “Clearly he is very distracted, he can’t be managing these businesses and dealing with this.” James Murdoch, once News Corp’s heir apparent, is the highest profile executive at the company to lose his job amid a scandal that has led to more than 20 arrests and triggered the closure of the News of the World, News International’s most profitable paper. “We are all grateful for James’s leadership at News International and across Europe and Asia, where he has made lasting contributions to the group’s strategy in paid digital content and its efforts to improve and enhance governance programs,” Rupert Murdoch said in a statement. He said James would “continue to assume a variety of essential corporate leadership mandates, with particular focus on important pay-TV businesses and broader international operations.” But senior media executives in New York have dismissed the suggestion that James can continue to play a major role at the company while the phone-hacking scandal continues. One senior executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Murdoch’s role within the company was becoming increasingly difficult. He said the idea of James Murdoch running any significant part of News Corp’s US business was “ridiculous”. “There’s too much trouble hanging over his head. All this newspaper stuff just seems to get worse by the day. How can anyone expect him to fully commit to anything else? And anyone who works with him is going to be wondering how long he’s going to be around. It would have been easier to let him go. Looks like Rupert is getting sentimental.” News Corporation James Murdoch Rupert Murdoch News International United States Corporate governance Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk

Posted by Breaking News Online on February 29, 2012. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.