London, July 19 (ANI): A group of 18 heavyweight investors of News Corporation have signaled their intention to oust Rupert Murdoch as the media firm's chairman at its October annual general meeting.
The investors, including Legal and General Investment Management, the Co-Operative Asset Management and Aviva, together control over one trillion dollars of assets and hold some 13.4 million Class A shares in the firm.
According to the Telegraph, they have written to Murdoch, declaring their intention to back a motion filed by the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) in the UK and Christian Brothers Investment Services (CBIS), ahead of its AGM in Los Angeles on 21 October.
The motion called for an independent chairman to replace Murdoch to help address the "lax ethical culture and lack of effective board oversight" exposed by News Corp's "still emerging scandals".
According to the paper, the investors with Class A shares said that they were restricted from filing the motion with CBIS and LAPFF., which hold top-tier Class B voting shares.
They, however, added that they wanted to express their "explicit support" for the motion.
"Given the recent reputational, legal and regulatory risks brought about by allegations of phone hacking and payments to police officers by News Corp subsidiaries... we believe the board is in need of independent leadership," the investors wrote.
They further said that the company's plan to split into two presents "a unique opportunity for serious governance reform," they added. (ANI)
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