Close associate of James Murdoch steps down at News Corp.

A close associate of embattled executive James Murdoch will step down from her high-level position as chief human resources officer of News Corp. at the end of the month. 

The company said Beryl Cook would be replaced by longtime corporate consultant Jeff Mook.

The move is significant because Cook was seen within News Corp. as a key member of James Murdoch's "shadow government" as he began to amass power within the global media conglomerate and was being groomed as a successor to his father, Rupert Murdoch. The elder Murdoch is chairman and chief executive at News Corp., and James serves as deputy chief operating officer.

Cook had worked with James Murdoch at British Sky Broadcasting in London, when he ran the satellite TV service. In 2007, she moved to News Corp.'s New York headquarters to assume her senior post.

That same year James Murdoch was elevated to head of News Corp.'s European and Asian operations. In March, he was promoted to his current job, a New York-based position. Since July, he has been embroiled in the phone hacking scandal that has shaken the media company and the British political establishment.

James Murdoch is being recalled to appear before British Parliament next Thursday to face a second round of questions over his role in the controversy.

Cook, a former journalist and 22-year veteran of the company, is not leaving News Corp. entirely. After a month-long transition, she will return to an Asian Pacific division "to be closer to her family," News Corp. said.

“I understand her decision to leave New York and am delighted she has agreed to continue playing an important role within the company," Rupert Murdoch said in a statement.

Mook, 50, joined News Corp. in early 2010 as the company’s senior vice president of global compensation. He spent 25 years as a consultant for such firms as Towers Perrin. He will report to Chase Carey, News Corp.'s president and chief operating officer.

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Second California pension fund votes against Rupert Murdoch

A second large California pension fund has voted against the reelection of News Corp. directors, including the company's powerful chairman, Rupert Murdoch. 

The California State Teachers' Retirement System said Monday that it had withheld its votes for the entire slate of nominees to the News Corp. board in advance of the company's annual shareholders meeting in Los Angeles on Friday.  

CalSTRS owns 6.1 million shares of News Corp. Class A common stock and 35,200 voting shares of News Corp. Class B stock, said Ricardo Duran, the pension fund's spokesman.

"As a publicly traded company, we feel that News Corp. should be held to the same governance standards as other companies in our portfolio," Duran said. "The recent scandal has underscored the need for the highest ethical standards at News Corp."

Reporters at Murdoch's now-defunct London tabloid News of the World eavesdropped on messages left on the cellphones of royal family members, celebrities, crime victims and fallen soldiers.

Murdoch, who controls about 40% of the company's voting stock, is expected to face questions Friday about his stewardship of the company. The phone hacking scandal has roiled the company, raised questions about Murdoch's leadership and succession plans and prompted inquiries into News Corp.'s business practices by the U.S. and British governments. 

Last week, the nation's largest pension fund, the California Public Employees' Retirement System, said that it had withheld its votes for Rupert Murdoch and his two sons Lachlan and James, as well as other non-independent directors. CalPERS holds 1.4 million shares of News Corp. Class B stock.

CalSTRS went further. The teachers' pension fund managers did not vote for any of the nominees to News Corp.'s board, Duran said.

The group has several concerns about Murdoch's iron grip on News Corp. management, specifically the company's dual-class stock system. The two classes of stock allow Murdoch and his family to control the voting shares even though their economic interest in the company is much smaller.

CalSTRS also said there were not enough independent voices on News Corp.'s board. 

"We believe that two-thirds of a company's board should be independent, and News Corp's slate of nominees as it is currently constituted falls short of that goal," Duran said. 

The development was first reported by the Sacramento Bee.

Last week, News Corp. issued a statement saying the board had taken “decisive action” to hold people accountable and take measures to “prevent something like [the British phone hacking scandal] from ever occurring again.”

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CalPERS to vote against return of Murdochs to News Corp. board

The nation's largest public pension fund said it would vote against the reelection of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his sons, James and Lachlan, to News Corp.'s board of directors.

The California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, said in a statement Friday that the media giant's shareholders would benefit from greater board independence because of the dual class voting structure of the company. Murdoch controls about 40% of News Corp.’s voting shares.

The CalPERS announcement comes as an influential advisory firm, Institutional Shareholder Services,  this week advised voting against the reelection of 13 of the company's 15 directors, saying the British phone hacking scandal, and subsequent closing of the News of the World tabloid, reflects a failure of board “stewardship.”

Hermes Equity Ownership Services, another advisory service affiliated with Britain's largest pension fund, joined in calling on investors Friday to vote against the reelection of any Murdoch family member to the board at next week's annual shareholders' meeting.

CalPERS said it would withhold voting its nearly 1.5 million shares for the reelection of James and Lachlan Murdoch, Arthur Siskind, News Corp.’s former general counsel, and Andrew Knight, the former executive chairman of News International, the company's British publishing arm. It also declined to support Rupert Murdoch, who serves the dual roles of chairman and chief executive, calling instead for an independent chairman to oversee the company.

“Calpers expects the Board to continue its efforts to rejuvenate the News Corporation Board with new independent directors,” the pension fund said in a statement.

News Corp. earlier this week issued a statement saying the board has taken “decisive action” to hold people accountable and take measures to “prevent something like this from ever occurring again.”

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Photo of News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, at right, walking from a hotel to his flat with his son James Murdoch, chief executive of News Corp. Europe and Asia. Credit: Facundo Arrizabalaga/European Pressphoto Agency