Not surprisingly, News Corp is facing action for deliberately ignoring assurances which they gave to shareholders by renewing/extending its poison pill provision without the specific approval from shareholders.
This is good news. Shareholders receiving assurances need to challenge News Corp's deliberate actions to ignore these.
Onésimo Alvarez-Moro
See article:
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation will face trial over allegations that it broke a promise with shareholders not to extend a controversial poison pill following a ruling by a US judge.
William Chandler of the Delaware chancery court decided yesterday that News Corp will face charges on counts of breach of contract and breach of promise, although he dismissed three other charges relating to fraud, negligent misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary duty.
The ruling comes after a group of institutional shareholders from the US, Europe and Australia filed a lawsuit against the company in October alleging that News Corp had failed to honor a pledge not to extend its poison pill without consulting them.
The original poison pill was brought in back in November 2004 to stop John Malone, the media mogul, from adding to his 18 percent stake in the company. Then, in August 2005, Murdoch, the chairman and CEO whose family own a 30 percent stake in the company, announced that he was going to extend the provision for two more years. And, despite an earlier commitment from News Corp that any poison pill would expire after one year 'unless ratified by stockholders,' shareholders were not given a vote on the issue at the company's October 2005 AGM.
See full Article.
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