The Bancroft on News Corp.'s board

Sophia Banay of Conde Nast Portfolio writes Tuesday about Natalie Bancroft, the opera singing member of the Bancroft family that sold Dow Jones & Co. to News Corp. and now sits on the News Corp. board.

Banay wrote, “During her two-year term, Bancroft will be paid $195,000 annually in cash and stock. (She is up for re-election in 2010, and according to the terms of sale, News Corp. will maintain a position on its board for a family representative until 2018.) She appears to be doing her homework: She has already traveled to Los Angeles on News Corp. business and is studying the company’s board books. Among other initiatives, Bancroft plans to reach out to senior management at News Corp. and to meet with journalists. She also says she will resume a journalism course that she enrolled in after high school but never completed, at the London School of Journalism. ‘I’m working my little butt off,’ she says.

“Only a few of Bancroft’s fellow board members will speak about her publicly. Stanley Shuman, managing director at Allen & Co., an investment firm, says she’s ‘bright and serious.’ Through a spokesman, Rupert Murdoch concurs, saying she has ‘already shown great energy and interest in all aspects of the business.’ Yet the impact Bancroft will have on the 17-member board is questionable. Murdoch is a notoriously hands-on C.E.O., and the board makes its decisions by majority vote, so a few holdouts don’t matter. In addition, Bancroft brings little business savvy to the table. ‘Her profile is different,’ says Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. ‘She’s young, and her experience range hasn’t been in corporate enterprises.’ Though Bancroft is just one director out of many, Elson adds, ‘I can’t imagine, if you’re a shareholder, this is something you would be particularly excited about.’

“One reason Hugh Bancroft thinks Murdoch chose Natalie for the director’s job over other relatives is that she was willing to move the company forward. Unlike Michael Hill, Hugh believes, his daughter also understands what her role will be. It’s not ‘someone pounding their chest as a Dow Jones representative,’ he says. ‘You’re a News Corp. employee. Natalie’s job is not to run to the family.’ Hugh was always in favor of selling the company to Murdoch and modernizing Dow Jones. ‘Hell, we invented the ticker tape,’ he says. ‘Why don’t we go on from there?'”

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