News Corp, the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his family, renewed José María Aznar as an independent director at its shareholders meeting held on November 19.
With his re-election, the 72-year-old former president of the Spanish government will turn 20 in 2026 as director of the Australian tycoon’s publishing group, which includes publications known throughout the world as The Wall Street Journal, The sun, The times or the New York Postamong other means of global impact.
According to documentation submitted to the US stock market regulator Security Exchange Commission (SEC), Aznar was re-elected with the highest percentage of votes against Murdoch shareholders among all six directors proposed for re-election to their position. There were therefore shareholders with almost 33 million votes (almost 20% of the share capital) who voted against keeping the current president of the Faes Foundation in office. With this result, Aznar increases the rejection, which in 2024 was 11%.
This is more than double the number of votes against re-election compared to other councillors, such as Lachlan K. Murdoch, who the capital voted against with 9.8%. Murdoch’s son is chairman of the board and also CEO and executive chairman of Fox Corporation, owner of the US television channel aligned with President Donald Trump, Fox News. In addition to the Murdoch family, which owns 41% of the capital but controls the company having the majority of political rights, News Corp’s capital includes major investment funds such as Vanguard, BlackRock or State Street, among others.
Aznar suffers greater opposition to re-election than other News Corp directors because there are investors, as well as some proxy advisors, who punish the political profile of members of the companies’ leadership. It also happens in Spain that directors who submit their positions to the trust of shareholders and come from the world of politics obtain a lower percentage of approval than other types of directors who come from the private sphere.
The ‘delegates’ reject his re-election
The main one delegated advisors – who advise investors on how to vote at shareholder meetings – recommended voting against his re-election, while their advice was to vote in favor of the rest of the directors up for re-election. According to the Glass Lewis report, to which these media outlets have had access, News Corp maintains an unequal balance between economic and political rights in favor of the Murdoch family and places part of this responsibility on Aznar as chairman of the nominating and corporate governance committee. Furthermore, he also accuses him of a lack of information on diversity policy and is concerned about the way in which council renewals are carried out.
In addition to being an independent director of News Corp, Aznar is chairman of the nominating and corporate governance committee and a member of the audit committee. With these roles, the former president of the PP obtained a salary of 341,565 dollars for the last fiscal year ended (almost 294.00 euros at the current exchange rate). This compensation is slightly higher than the previous year’s $338,732, according to the multinational’s documentation. However, in 2022 he obtained a higher compensation, of more than 352,000 euros at News Corp. In summary, José María Aznar would have already earned around four million euros since 2006 for his performances in Rupert Murdoch’s companies.
Murdoch signed Aznar almost 20 years ago, two years after leaving La Moncloa. At that time he appointed him director of 21st Century Fox, until 2013 when he moved to News Corporation. In its re-election documents, News Corp presents Aznar as a director who brings “expertise in strategic planning and leadership skills from his extensive experience, including his position as president of Spain”. Among his key skills, he highlights “experience in international economic policy gained while overseeing Spain’s participation in the eurozone, knowledge of financial and risk management developed as a leader at the highest levels of government, and training as a public manager.”
In addition to his political positions, News Corp includes that of special advisor at the American law firm Latham & Watkins, a position he has held since 2018. The former Prime Minister was also hired in 2011 as an external consultant for the electricity company Endesa.
During his term as President of the Spanish Government (1996-2004), Aznar tried to convince Spain to strengthen diplomatic relations with the United States and the United Kingdom, believing that Spain should play a leading role in the Atlantic axis which would give it greater geopolitical strength in Latin America. The greatest expression of this rapprochement occurred in what was known as the Azores photo, when he posed with the American president, George Bush, and the British prime minister, Tony Blair, in a show of support for the former in the Iraq war. Aznar was succeeded as president by José Luis Rodríguez (PSOE), who won the elections on 14 March 2004, four days after the jihadist attacks in Atocha, the worst massacre suffered by Spanish democracy in which 193 people died.
