News Corp. shareholders Amalgamated Bank and the Central Laborers Pension Fund filed suit against Rupert Murdoch and his company Wednesday, claiming that a deal to purchase Elisabeth Murdoch's production company for $675 million is driven by nepotism and not the interests of investors.
“Although the transaction makes little or no business sense for News Corp. and is far above a price any independent, disinterested third party would pay for Shine, it is unsurprising that the transaction was approved by News Corp.’s board,” the complaint says, according to Bloomberg.
News Corp.'s plans to buy Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine Group—a successful London-based reality TV shop—were settled in late February, and include a voting seat for the Murdoch daughter on the media empire's board, on which her brothers Lachlan and James already sit.
A spokesman for News Corp. dismissed the suit as "meritless," the Los Angeles Times reported.
