"I'm hopeful that the increase in the amount of support will drive it home for them that this is something that shareholders really want to address," Ms Campos said. At last year's AGM, Mr Murdoch faced the largest vote the company has had in favour of removing the dual-class structure, with 49.5 per cent of votes cast in favour of the motion. "Hopefully we'll be able to continue to persuade a few more shareholders. It will be great to see the proposal pass 50 per cent," Ms Campos said. The non-binding shareholder proposal is once again expected to be put forward by the Nathan Cummings Foundation and co-filed by Hermes Equity Ownership. Should the proposal pass at this year's AGM, the dual-class share structure would not be eliminated; rather it would be "an advisory recommendation" to New Corp's board to submit a proposal to class B shareholders in the future. The dual-class share structure allows the Murdoch family to control almost 40 per cent of voting power while owning close to 14 per cent of the company. News Corp has two classes of stock: A, which hold no voting rights, and B, which hold voting rights. According to documents filed with the Securities Exchange Commission in September, Mr Murdoch controls 39.4 per cent of Class B voting stock, of which 38.4 per cent is held in the Murdoch Family Trust. For any motion to beat Mr Murdoch, it would require a large turnout of voting stock shareholders to vote in favour of abolishing the current structure. In arguing against the proposal last year, News Corp's board said the dual-class structure provided greater stability for the company. "In the face of difficult challenges, management of companies with a single class of common stock can become singularly focused on maximising short-term value and performance at the expense of long-range planning," the board said. "The board believes that a company with single-class stock may run the risk of forgoing stock issuances (thereby forgoing strategic transactions that potentially could be of great benefit to stockholders) simply out of concerns over dilution of control." It is often argued that investors in News Corp know what they're getting into when they invest in the company. Investors have the option of buying either class of share, however it is more difficult to buy class B shares as they are less liquid, with more of them tied by the Murdochs.News Corp has faced quite a few such revolts from shareholders in recent years. However, given the high concentration of voting stock held by the Murdoch family, it is a difficult vote to get across the line. The vote has come incredibly close in recent years, with long-time Murdoch ally and News Corp shareholder since 1997 Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal selling down his stake in the company's class B voting shares from 6.6 per cent to 1 per cent in early 2015. News Corp, which owns newspapers such as The Australian and The Wall Street Journal, as well as 50 per cent of pay television provider Foxtel, reported a third-quarter loss of $US149 million, compared with a profit of $US23 million in the previous corresponding period, largely due to a lawsuit settlement. News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson described Friday's quarterly result as "disappointing", even when factoring out the $US280 million settlement over claims by a number of plaintiffs that it was monopolising promotions in many retail stores in the United States, and a $US72 million negative currency impact on revenue. "Excluding those and other items, revenues and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) declined 5 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively, which was still disappointing," Mr Thomson said. Max Mason is The Australian Financial Review’s Media & Marketing Editor. He writes about the rapidly evolving media landscape, changing business models and the growth of digital.
AGM will lead another attempt to overturn News Corp’s dual-class share structure at the company’s annual general meeting later this year. Last year, a similar move by the foundation to replace the structure with one that offered one vote per share led to the largest vote in the company's history. It was narrowly defeated with 49.5% of votes in support of the motion. Even if the foundation is successful at the The Nathan Cummings Foundation, the vote would not be binding. Instead, it would constitute “an advisory recommendation” that the company board allow class B shareholders, who hold voting rights, to consider the proposal. The dual-class share structure means the Murdoch family controls almost 40% of votes while owning just 14% of the corporation.