Proxy advisory firms' calls for a negative vote against News Corp. directors had little impact on the final outcome of the voting result as all directors were re-elected to the board, while its Chairman and Chief Executive, Rupert Murdoch retained his hold on the company.

The margin of victory for many News Corp. directors, however, including Rupert's sons James Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch was narrow and is likely to raise eyebrows, since independent shareholders largely voted against keeping them on the board.

While Rupert Murdoch got something of a vote of confidence from shareholders, winning 84.4 percent of the vote, his sons fared far worse. James, the company's deputy chief operating officer who is at the center of the phone-hacking scandal that has plagued News Corp. in recent months, garnished just 65 percent of the vote, and Lachlan, received 66.3 percent of the final votes. Considering that the Murdoch family controls 40 percent of voting shares, the margins are hardly a ringing endorsement of their leadership. (Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, who has voiced support for Murdoch, owns a 7 percent stake in the company.)

Other notable directors who struggled to win majority votes include: Natalie Bancroft (66.4 percent), Andrew Knight (67.7 percent), and Arthur Siskind (69.7 percent).

In addition to re-electing all directors, shareholders also voted to affirm the company's executive compensation plan, frequency of the say-on-pay vote, and other management proposals. In a press release, the company said all directors were elected, the advisory vote was in favor of the executive compensation, and other management proposals were approved. 

Despite calls by investors and proxy firms' to ease Murdoch's clutch on the company, the floor proposal by shareholders to separate the chairman and CEO post was also voted down during the meeting. “The floor proposal regarding an independent Chair of the Board was not approved,” said the company in a statement. The California Public Employees' Retirement System, the California State Teachers' Retirement System and Institutional Shareholder Services all took stances aimed at loosening Murdoch's control at the company.

Shareholders activists had earlier proposed to split the chief executive and chairman's roles at the company, while appointing an independent chairman of the board. Earlier, ISS has called for shareholders to vote against 13 of News Corp 15 directors including Murdoch and his two sons. Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis also asked shareholders to vote against the re-election of Murdoch's two sons.

Murdoch's leadership at the company has been under fire following the now defunct U.K. publication-News of the World's highly publicized phone hacking scandal and other prior similar offenses. News Corp. also owned other major mainstream media companies in the United States which include the Wall Street Journal, Fox television network and the Twentieth Century Fox movie studio.