Elisabeth Murdoch will not join the board of News Corp after suggesting the move would be 'inappropriate'. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
Elisabeth Murdoch will not be joining the board of her father Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation conglomerate, despite expectations that she would do so.
The company said in a statement that she had suggested to its directors it would be "inappropriate" for her to make the move. She had been expected to join the board after News Corp bought Shine Group, the television production company she runs, in a deal worth £415m.
Viet Dinh, chairman of the nominating and corporate governance committee of the News Corporation board of directors, said: "Elisabeth Murdoch suggested to the independent directors some weeks ago that she felt it would be inappropriate to include her nomination to the board of News Corp at this year's AGM, as had been announced by chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch at the time of the acquisition of Shine Group earlier this year.
"The independent directors agreed that the previously planned nomination should be delayed. Both Elisabeth and the board hope this decision reaffirms that News Corp aspires to the highest standards of corporate governance and will continue to act in the best interests of all stakeholders, be they shareholders, employees or the billions of consumers who News Corp content informs, entertains and sometimes provokes every year."
Murdoch founded Shine, which has produced shows such as The Tudors, Ashes to Ashes and Masterchef, a decade ago, and built it into a powerhouse in the British independent television sector and a transatlantic business. Other popular programmes for the group include Merlin, and Spooks.
Reports have suggested that some shareholders believe the 16-member board of News Corp is too beholden to Rupert Murdoch. The Murdoch family controls nearly 40% of the company's voting shares through a family trust, and Murdoch's sons James, 38, and Lachlan, 39, already sit alongside him on the board.
In February, after announcing News Corp's plans to buy Shine, Rupert Murdoch said: "Shine has an outstanding creative team that has built a significant independent production company in major markets in very few years, and I look forward to them becoming an important part of our varied and large content creation activities. I expect Liz Murdoch to join the board of News Corporation on completion of this transaction."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/06/elisabeth-murdoch-board-news-corporation?CMP=twt_gu
