Almost 40 per cent of Southern Cross Austereo’s shareholders are prepared to remove the radio and television broadcaster’s chairman, Rob Murray – likely pushing him to step down from the company that owns the Triple M and Hit radio networks.

After taking almost five months to reject rival ARN Media and Anchorage Capital Partners’ takeover offer, and lacklustre results, nearly all of Southern Cross’s major shareholders have backed a call for an extraordinary meeting to remove Mr Murray.