It has allowed the Murdoch family to effectively control the company with a minority shareholding, leading to accusations it is run more like a family fiefdom than a coventional public company "This kind of governing structure may be exactly what we'd expect in Cuba or North Korea, but it is at odds with good governance practices here," Bill Dempsey, chief financial officer of the New York-based Nathan Cummings Foundation, told Mr Murdoch at Friday's meeting. At the meeting, which was attended in person by only six investors, Mr Murdoch heralded his son Lachlan as an important part of the company's future. "It is a very special thing to be fortunate enough to work side-by-side with Lachlan who has proven himself to be a talented and successful executive in his own right here and in Australia and will lead us to a very prosperous and bright future." With the Murdoch family owning 78.72 million shares, it appears that a small minority of investors outside of the family's inner circle backed their minority control.

There are conflicting reports about whether a win for dissenting investors would have automatically translated into the share structure being abolished. Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has said he did not vote against Murdoch. "We never vote against our partner Mr Murdoch," he said in a statement to the Financial Times. But the final vote numbers indicate that Prince Alwaleed did not support Mr Murdoch by voting his seven per cent stake against the proposal to unwind the share structure. But the final vote numbers indicate that Prince Alwaleed did not support Mr Murdoch by voting his seven per cent stake against the proposal to unwind the share structure. "It is a close outcome. It is fair to say that there is really only a small group of insiders who happen to have a very large position that have benefited from the structure," independent analyst Mark McDonnell said.

Had the resolution passed, Mr Murdoch faced the prospect of his control of the company he has built into a global media empire significantly diluted, making him much more vulnerable to the influence of other investors. Voting results filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission after Wall Street closed on Friday showed 53.7 million votes against Mr Murdoch's re-election as chairman versus 112 million votes in favour. Proxy firms ISS and Glass Lewis had advised investors to protest at the company's poison pill mechanism, which makes it extremely difficult for another company to take over the company. Gerson Zweifach, general counsel of News Corp, told the meeting: "The rights plan does not protect and prevent against any takeover of the company. All it does is it requires that anybody who wants to obtain control in this company has to pay for it. That's what it does and it applies to the Murdoch family trust as well." News Corp Australia declined to comment on Monday.

Mr Murdoch bowed to investor pressure previously with his decision to split his media empire last year, with the more valuable broadcast assets housed in 21st Century Fox. With AAP