James Murdoch resigns as BSkyB chairman to avert fallout from News Corp phone-hacking scandal

His carefully–worded letter to the board made references to the phone–hacking scandal at News Corporation which toppled him, but did not name his father Rupert Murdoch's media empire directly. "I am determined that the interests of BSkyB should not be undermined by matters outside the scope of this company… "I believe that my resignation will help to ensure that there is no false conflation with events at a separate organisation," he wrote. Nicholas Ferguson, BSkyB's longstanding deputy chairman, will replace Mr Murdoch, who – controversially – will remain a non–executive director. Tom Mockridge, chief executive of News International, has been appointed deputy chairman. Mr Murdoch's resignation follows nearly a year of opposition from major BSkyB investors who feared that his handling of the hacking scandal raised concerns about the satellite broadcaster's own corporate governance and weighed on its share price. The board of BSkyB had unanimously backed Mr Murdoch, who was formerly chairman of News International, but this did little to dampen a landslide of support away from him at the company's last annual meeting in November. A fifth of shareholders voted against him, despite the fact that News Corp owns a 39pc stake in BSkyB. Of the independents, 44pc opposed his re–election as chairman or abstained altogether. The naysayers included Legal & General and Aberdeen Asset Management.