James Murdoch wins backing of Sky shareholders to stay as chairman

A majority of independent votes cast at the annual shareholders` meeting of Sky on Thursday supported the re-election of James Murdoch as chairman, a spokesman for the European pay TV group said.

Ahead of the meeting some shareholders had said they were planning to oppose Murdoch`s re-election because they did not believe he could effectively represent independent investors as he is also chief executive of Twenty-First Century Fox.

Twenty-First Century Fox, which already owns 39 percent of Sky, agreed to buy the rest of the company in December 2016, a deal which is currently being reviewed by Britain`s competition regulators.

At Sky`s AGM, independent director Martin Gilbert said he was "pretty confident" past events at Fox News in the United States would not affect the UK Competition and Markets Authority`s current review of the deal.

Gilbert`s comment was a reference to allegations of sexual and racial harassment at Fox News.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)