Fox Investors Excluding Murdoch Back Job Split by 3-1 Margin

21st Century Fox investors not affiliated with Rupert Murdoch and his family supported a proposal to create an independent chairman of the film and television company by about a 2-1 margin.

Shareholders representing almost 147 million Class B voting shares backed the plan, according to a filing by New York-based Fox after the company’s annual meeting in Los Angeles. Votes opposing totaled 361.7 million, including about 280 million cast by Murdoch, 82, and his family trust. “The level of family control -- Murdoch owns 40 percent of voting shares -- and the dual-class share structure which denies voting rights to Class A shareholders, were engineered to keep power in the hands of Murdoch,” said Julie Tanner of Christian Brothers Investment Services. “While it is virtually impossible for a shareholder resolution to ‘pass,’ a high vote result should send a clear signal to the board that change is needed.”