Lis Murdoch delays joining News Corp board

Elisabeth Murdoch will not be joining the News Corp board in the wake of its acquisition of Shine Group, as was originally planned.

A statement from News Corp said Rupert Murdoch’s daughter had decided it was “inappropriate” for her to take up a position on the board at this time.

Murdoch Snr had said he expected Elisabeth to join the board following News Corp’s US$675m purchase of Shine in March.

However, both the purchase and the appointment of his daughter to the proposed board attracted criticism from News Corp shareholders.

The Amalgamated Bank of New York and the Central Laborers Pension Fund filed for damages in a Delaware Court after the deal was announced, saying Shine was overvalued and the deal amounted to nepotism.

Tensions within the Murdoch family are said to have grown in the wake of the phone hacking scandal that has engulfed UK subsidiary News International.

Revelations that reporters regularly hacked into the voicemail of politicians, celebrities and victims of murders and terrorist attacks forced News Corp to close the News of the World newspaper and drop its bid to buy out British satcaster BSkyB. A full public enquiry into the scandal has been set up by the British government.

In a statement issued over the weekend, Viet Dinhm, the chairman of the nominating and corporate governance committee at News Corp, confirmed that Elisabeth’s appointment to the board had been 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,” Dinhm said.

The US court case against the News Corp/Shine buy-out is still ongoing. Shareholders involved in the lawsuit last month rejected as “inconceivable” the idea that Rupert Murdoch was unaware of the illicit practices used by his UK newspapers.