[Omah]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14214729

Robert Peston:

This statement was given to the BBC last night by Anne Simpson, who is in charge of corporate governance at Calpers (Californian Public Employers Retirement System), one of America's most influential investors:

"News Corp does not have one share one vote. This is a corruption of the governance system. Power should reflect capital at risk.

"Calpers sees the voting structure in a company as critical. The situation is very serious and we're considering our options. We don't intend to be spectators - we're owners."

Calpers owns 6.4 million News Corp shares. And what exercises it is that News Corp has two classes of share, Class A shares and Class B shares, which are identical in every way except that Class B shares have voting rights at the annual meeting and Class A shares don't.

The resonant point is that because Rupert Murdoch controls around 40% of the Class B voting shares (or at least that's what public disclosures say he controls), he is able to exercise what is perceived to be near total control over the business, without needing to own all the shares.

Nice work if you can get it .....