Rupert Murdoch's company makes 75% of its profits in the US

At a extraordinary meeting in Adelaide, more than 90% of shareholders voted to support Rupert Murdoch's plan to incorporate the media giant in the US.

The decision reduces the $48bn firm's links with Australia, where Mr Murdoch began his business career.

Mr Murdoch hopes to attract more investors by moving to the US.

'Australian spirit'

News Corp was forced to bow to investor opposition to secure support for the move, striking a deal to enhance minority shareholder rights.

News Corp will always be defined by an Australian spirit Rupert Murdoch

The company is to reincorporate in the US state of Delaware.

It hopes to gain entry into the Standard & Poor's Index of 500 leading companies, where it will attract more interest from US institutional investors.

"News Corporation will always be defined by an Australian spirit and for entirely selfish reasons as it is from Australia this company derives its entrepreneurial spirit, our energy, our brashness," Mr Murdoch said at the meeting.

Richard Gibbs, chief economist at Sydney's McQuarrie Bank, told the BBC's World Business Report: "There is a sense, with some of the shareholders, that this is again an example of Australia becoming a bit of a branch office for the global economy, with our best and brightest stars moving abroad."

Rupert Murdoch launched his first newspaper in Adelaide in the 1950s.