Such setbacks as Rupert Murdoch has suffered might have done for the head of a normal public company, but News Corp isn’t one. The conglomerate is effectively a family firm run largely with other people’s money, the majority of whom have no say in how it works. This is because of its dual-share structure, consisting of Class A shares that do not carry a vote and Class B shares that do. The Murdoch family trust owns 12 per cent of News Corp but just under 40 per cent of the votes. Dual-share companies are commonly vehicles for maintaining family control while allowing money to be raised on the open market. Only one other party enjoys significant voting rights, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, billionaire chairman of the Saudi investment company Kingdom Holding, who owns 7 per cent of the Class B shares. The rest are distributed in packets of 1 or 2 per cent at most.