TIME WARNER DIGS IN: Board Removes Ability For Shareholders To Force Vote On Fox Offer

REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstNews Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch (L) talks to Time Warner Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Bewkes.

Time Warner's board just changed the company's bylaws to prevent a small group of shareholders from forcing a vote on Fox's offer for the company.

The new amendment, which is effective immediately, removed a standard provision that allows 15% of the company's shareholders to vote to call a "special meeting," in this case one that could have been devoted to evaluating the Fox offer.

As a result, Time Warner's shareholders have no ability to force a vote on the deal until the company's annual meeting next summer.

The removal of this provision removes the final stick that Murdoch could have used to force an immediate consideration of his offer.