James Murdoch is facing a challenge to his board membership of BSkyB. The Financial Times reports that a group of institutional investors has called for shareholders to vote against Murdoch’s re-election.
Murdoch resigned as executive chairman of News International and as chairman of BSkyB in 2012 in the wake of the phone-hacking affair at the News of the World.
That scandal places a doubt over his ability “to respond appropriately to a governance crisis at Sky”, says the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum, a long-time critic of Murdoch.
It argues that Murdoch had failed to clarify conflicts of interests with his role at 21st Century Fox, Sky’s biggest shareholder. It was Murdoch who led Fox’s negotiations with Sky over the £6.9bn sale of its stake in Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland in July this year, a deal which was completed this month.
The Forum has therefore recommended that its members vote against Murdoch’s re-election at Sky’s annual general meeting tomorrow (21 November), and also called for increased independent representation on Sky’s board.
Its members manage approximately £150bn in assets, amounting to about 2% of Sky’s stock.
Murdoch has gradually returned to greater prominence over the past couple of years at 21st Century Fox, which is chaired by his father, Rupert.
The FT quotes Sky as saying: “James Murdoch has always acted with integrity and competence in his time at Sky. He continues to make a major contribution to the company.”
Source: Financial Times
