Rupert Murdoch sees $200 Million Investment in Fox Business Network

A proposal to eliminate News Corp.'s dual-class stock structure won some support among shareholders, signaling discontent with a system that allows Rupert Murdoch's family to maintain control over the global media conglomerate.

Murdoch's family trust is the largest holder of Class B voting stock with 30.1 percent of the shareholder vote, while John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. is the second-largest with 19.1 percent, according to News Corp.'s proxy statement.

The proposal did not come close to passing, winning approval of just 22.9 percent at the company's annual meeting Friday, which was held in a theater near New York's Times Square.

But the sponsor of the measure, Australian shareholder activist Stephen Mayne, pointed out that once the shares controlled by Murdoch and Malone were excluded — since they both voted against it — the measure won support from roughly half of the remaining shareholders.