London: Elisabeth Murdoch, the 42-year-old daughter of Rupert Murdoch, will not join the board of her father’s News Corporation conglomerate for now, the company has announced, amid intense scrutiny of the media empire over the phone-hacking scandal. Elisabeth has told the independent directors that she felt it would be “inappropriate” for her to join the board and they have agreed that her “previously planned nomination” should be delayed.
She was expected to join the News Corp board after it bought Shine Group, the TV production company she runs. In February, her father said he expected her to join the board after her company was bought for 415 million pounds.
However, in a statement, Viet Dinh, Chairman of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the News Corporation board of directors, said Elisabeth had “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”.
She founded Shine, which has produced shows such as The Tudors, Ashes to Ashes and Masterchef, Merlin and Spooks. The statement said: “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.”
The decision comes amid intense scrutiny of the media giant, which faces several shareholder lawsuits in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal involving its now-defunct News of the World tabloid and allegations of police bribery. (PTI)
