Shareholders back current News Corp. regime

MurdochIn a show of support for the current governance of News Corp., the company's shareholders voted Friday to elect all existing directors and rejected a proposal for an independent chair of the board. Vote, held during the company's annual stockholders meeting, also endorsed executive compensation levels and other management proposals -- despite sometimes-hostile investor criticism of News Corp.'s leadership in the wake of a massive phone-hacking scandal. Wavering between penitence and irritation, News Corp. chairman-CEO Rupert Murdoch tried to strike a balance as shareholders grilled him on corporate governance and urged for changes.Christian Brothers Investment Services brought the resolution over new leadership to the floor, a proposal that would have ultimately replaced Murdoch as chairman with an independent director.Murdoch emphasized in his statements that the conglom was doing well and poised for continued success in the future. Not all shareholders agreed and many expressed their frustration at the company's management and its returns."You've been treating us like mushrooms for a long time,'' said Stephen Mayne, director of the Australian Shareholders Assn. during sometimes amused, sometimes heated exchanges with Murdoch in the half-dozen times he approached the microphone.Shareholders have criticized the company's corporate governance, saying lax oversight by a board with too many ties to the Murdoch family may have contributed to the hacking scandal."I promise you we will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of this and put it right,'' Murdoch said.Murdoch offered blanket reassurances of the company's profitability and stressed that the corporation's media properties remained strong."In the era of expanding digital consumption, our content libraries are fast becoming treasure troves,'' he said. The Zanuck Theater on the Fox lot was full and the mood was tense.British MP Tom Watson brought up potential new allegations of computer hacking but Murdoch said he was unaware of them."I find it inconceivable that a company of this size does not know things that I know,'' Watson responded. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com