Bye Bye James Murdoch
May daddy soon follow
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/apr/03/james-murdoch-bskyb-live
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Our colleague on the business desk, Rupert Neate, has this background on recent BSkyB shareholder feelings on the now-departed chairman:
In November 44% of BSkyB's independent shareholders voted against or abstained from voting for James Murdoch's re-election to the board. Big institutional shareholders that voted against his reappointment included Legal and General Investment Management, the broadcaster's third biggest shareholder, Standard Life and JP Morgan. News Corp controls 37% of voting shares in Sky so Murdoch easily achieved enough votes to continue his chairmanship.
At the meeting Guy Jubb, head of governance at Standard Life Investments, took the unusual of standing up to tell the audience why he had voted against Murdoch. "We pointed out [to the board] that our misgivings had been heightened by the revelations of stewardship shortcomings at the News of the World, a title for which Mr Murdoch bore a measure of responsibility." Jubb added that Standard Life was "deeply disappointed" that not a single director shared their concerns.
News of Murdoch's exit has had little effect on BSkyB's shares down just 0.22% to 679.5p, valuing the company at £11.6bn.
2.01pm: Here's a bit of information about Nick Ferguson, the deputy chairman of BSkyB, who has been tipped up to take over at the top of the broadcaster. "He eats nails for breakfast," a source told the Guardian.
