Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth presumably came to the conclusion that News Corp already had more than its fair share of controversy to attend to, given the mounting charges of voicemail hacking and payoffs to police in the U.K. She therefore announced late Friday that it would be "inappropriate" for her to become a member of the News Corp board of directors at this time. Her father's decision to buy his daughter's production company, Shine, for $680 million and name her to the News Corp board had already unleashed a plethora of complaints from stockholders about sweetheart deals, nepotism, and board-packing. News Corp independent director Viet Dinh said in a statement on Friday that the decision by Elisabeth Murdoch and the board "reaffirms that News Corp aspires to the highest standards of corporate governance and will continue to act in the best interests of all stakeholders."

08/08/2011