Rupert Murdoch survives challenge over control of 21st Century Fox

Rupert Murdoch isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

In what’s become an annual ritual, the 82-year-old mogul and chairman of 21st Century Fox appears to have beaten back an effort to remove him from the media giant’s board of directors, according to a preliminary count of votes cast at the company’s annual meeting held Friday on the Fox lot in Century City.

The only attendee at the meeting to speak out in favor of a proposal for an independent chairman to succeed Murdoch was Tim Shaler of Christian Bros. Investment Services, which oversees $4.6 billion in investments on behalf of Catholic dioceses, educational institutions and healthcare facilities. Christian Bros. has also been leading the charge for Fox’s independent board members to exert more authority over Murdoch.

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Murdoch controls 39.4% of Fox voting shares, which all but guarantees that he will remain firmly in control. Fox has two classes of stock, the voting shares and the non-voting stock; most shareholders own the latter.

Advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis again recommended that shareholders dump most of the 21st Century Fox board members -- including Murdoch, his two sons, James and Lachlan, and Chase Carey, the company’s chief operating officer.

The company said early voting results indicate that the board will remain intact.

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Follow Meg James on Twitter: @MegJamesLAT