One-Third of News Corp. Shareholders Vote Against Murdoch’s Sons

LOS ANGELES: At News Corp.’s annual shareholders meeting, more than a third of votes were cast against the re-election of chairman Rupert Murdoch’s sons James and Lachlan to the company’s board.

James Murdoch, News Corp.’s deputy COO, received 433 million votes in favor of his re-election as a director but about 232 million (34 percent) of the votes were cast against him. James testified before Parliament over the summer about his role in the phone-hacking scandal and has been asked back a second time next month. About 224 million votes (33 percent) were cast against the re-election of Lachlan. Roughly 91.8 million votes (14 percent) went against chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch.

Murdoch controls about 38.4 percent of News Corp.’s voting shares. Not counting Murdoch’s stake, 67 percent of Class B shareholders voted against James and 64 percent against Lachlan. This means that 40 percent of James’s total approval vote came from shares held by his family, and another 7 percent came from News Corp’s largest individual shareholder, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal.