Rupert Murdoch still keeps for himself the executive chair of News Corp media empire that he created, although more and more voices are calling for a radical change in the management group as a result of violation of privacy scandal in Britain. Last month, he was greeted at the entrance of the Zanuck Theater in Los Angeles, where the meeting of the Shareholders’ General Assembly took place, by a chorus of protests and numerous signs requiring his dismissal.
“Rupert has been in power for over 58 years. It’s been 24 years since its governance is catastrophic, and cell phone piracy scandal is a disaster. It is time for the oldest CEO in the world to withdraw”, summed up the situation Stephen Mayne, an Australian journalist who works for the rights of shareholders, quoted by CNBC. Although he swims against the tide, Rupert Murdoch persists to resist the wave of attacks that hit from all sides. Like an old fox, he set up an agenda for the meeting in such a way that that shareholders voted only for decisions that interested him and elegantly avoided discussions about his resignation. Voices of protesters could not have echoed in the courtroom because Murdoch family, although has only 12% of the group’s share, it is controlling 40% of the votes.
“They talk a lot about the performance of News Corp., which are excellent”, said one of the minority shareholders, quoted by French daily Les Echos. The Board of News Corp. has long been a target of critics of corporate governance experts, who argue that it fails to meet the company’s supervisory duties properly and wiretaps scandal “is probably the most visible example of the failure of oversight by the board”, according to Institutional Shareholders Services.
Most shareholders argue that they were not aware of the extent of interception of phone calls from former tabloid News of the World (NOW), controlled by the media group. Investigators discovered that the tabloid has used private detectives for eight years to monitor up to 4,000 people, including politicians, members of the royal family and other celebrities, but also victims of the attacks on 7 July 2005 in London, and a 13-year-old schoolgirl, Milly Dowler, murdered in 2002.
Although News Corp. stock fell in August, they were soon back on an upward trend since the press has a small impact on the increasing turnover of over 30 billion of the media conglomerate. Revenue from the press is only 20% of total turnover and 10% of profits.