US pension funds oppose Murdoch re-election

The two largest public pension funds in the US have voted to oust Rupert Murdoch as chairman of News Corporation ahead of the company’s annual shareholders meeting this week, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

The California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (Calstrs), have backed a resolution calling for News Corp to split the role of chairman and chief executive that Murdoch has held since founding the company, the newspaper said without citing sources.

Calpers, which manages $273 billion (£170 billion) of assets, said it would not back the re-election of Rupert Murdoch and his sons James and Lachlan, the paper said. Calstrs, which has $153 billion under management, has voted against the re-election of every News Corp director.

Calpers owns a 0.3 per cent stake in News Corp valued at about $113 million, while Calstrs holds 0.2 per cent valued at $83 million, Thomson Reuters data showed.

A third pension fund with $12.5 billion of assets, Calvert Investments, is also thought to have voted against their re-election, the Sunday Telegraph said. None of the companies were immediately available for comment. News Corp’s annual shareholders meeting is scheduled for October 16 in Los Angeles.