The media mogul has long been the chair of News Corp and Fox Corporation., which are both listed in New York. The former has newspaper subsidiaries including The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, The Times of London, and The Sun, as well as titles in Australia. Rupert Murdoch is a renowned media executive who served as the co-chairman of Fox Corporation, and the executive chairman of News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, HarperCollins, and the New York Post. At age 92, Murdoch announced his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith in March 2023. Within two weeks, however, Vanity Fair reported that Murdoch and Smith had called off the engagement. Murdoch vowed he would continue to be an active participant in both companies and their various brands.
- Additionally, after purchasing several prestigious American and British academic and literary publishing companies throughout the late 1980s, he consolidated them into HarperCollins that same year.
- Critics argued that the owner of major news sources covering the election shouldn’t contribute directly to the political campaigns involved.
- Murdoch has homes in the Bel Air area of Los Angeles and New York, among other properties.
- He succeeded in turning the publication into a successful paper in Australia and subsequently went about acquiring other newspapers across the nation.
By 1969, News Corp had bought the Daily Mirror in Sydney, launched a national newspaper, The Australian, and purchased newspapers The Sun and News of the World in the United Kingdom. Once referred to as the inventor of the ”modern tabloid,” Murdoch’s newspapers focused on eye-catching headlines that principally centered around stories of scandal and controversy, resulting in a spike in circulation. Despite this scandal, News Corp. retains a significant share of virtually all forms of media across the globe. Murdoch owns many of the books and newspapers people read, the TV shows and films they watch, the radio stations they listen to, the websites they visit, and the blogs and social networks they create.
Emergence of Fox and a Media Empire
At 88, that transaction marked Murdoch’s largest accrual of wealth in his nearly 70-year career. By the time Murdoch acquired 20th Century Fox in 1985, he was worth roughly $300 million, making him one of the richest men in the U.S., according to Forbes. The Guardian reported that Murdoch started seeing Russian retired biologist, Elena Zhukova, 66, whom he met at a family gathering hosted by one of his ex-wives, Wendi Deng. “Jerry, sadly I’ve decided to call an end to our marriage,” the email said, according to Vanity Fair, which cited a screenshot of the exchange.
Murdoch had two more children, Grace and Chloe, with his third wife, Wendi Deng.
“We have certainly had some good times, but I have much to do…My New York lawyer will be contacting yours immediately.” Murdoch bought the Fox film studios and a group of local TV stations that would evolve into the Fox network. Murdoch will become chairman emeritus of both companies, he wrote in a memo to employees. Murdoch was named an honoree of the Television Hall of Fame in 2014 and received a lifetime achievement award in 2021 from the Australia Day Foundation for his contribution to the media industry. In 2011, investigations determined that News of the World employees had systemically hacked into the phones of politicians, celebrities, and others in the news, including murder victims and their relatives, to produce exclusive features. In 2012, News Corp acquired Consolidated Media Holdings in Australia, and News Corp Australia is now a majority shareholder of Foxtel/FOX SPORTS Australia, which owns and operates Sky News Australia.
A newspaper dominated by dramatic headlines, vivid photographs, and sensational stories focused largely on scandal and controversy. After the death of his father, Sir Keith Murdoch, in 1952, Rupert Murdoch inherited News Corp Australia, a publisher of several popular newspapers in that country and founded in 1923 by James Edward Davidson. As of September 2024, Rupert Murdoch has an estimated personal net worth of $10.4 billion, according to Bloomberg. Within days of the settlement, it was announced that Fox parted ways with its top-rated TV personality Tucker Carlson—reportedly at Murdoch’s request. In 2013, he splurged $28.8 million on a 16-acre vineyard estate in Bel-Air, Los Angeles. The estate features a 7,500-square-foot main house with three bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms.
In 1985, News Corp purchased Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, and the studio subsequently produced two of the top-grossing films of all time, Titanic and Avatar. The company created the Fox Television Stations group, the foundation for the launch of FOX Broadcasting Company and FOX Sports. In 2007, Murdoch bought The Wall Street Journal parent company, Dow Jones for nearly $6 billion, ending a century of ownership by the wealthy Bancroft family.
Rupert Murdoch Net Worth
In addition to the main house, there is also a two-bedroom guesthouse and a 4,400-square-foot office space. The vineyard, known as Moraga Vineyards, is actually a working vineyard, and the previous owners used the office space as the winery sales office. In June 2022, it was revealed that Rupert and Jerry Hall were getting a divorce. At this point, Rupert had a 17% stake in Fox, and when the dust settled, he was left with about $12 billion in Disney stock. An additional $10 billion from the sale was distributed to Rupert’s six kids. Murdoch sold all of the entertainment assets within Fox Corp. in 2019, including 21st Century Fox, for $71 billion.
Disney Acquisition
With the dawn of the new century, Murdoch continued to expand News Corp.’s holdings to control more and more of the media people view on a daily basis. In 2005, he purchased Intermix Media, the owner of the popular social networking site MySpace.com. Two years later, in 2007, the longtime newspaper mogul made headlines with the purchase of Dow Jones, the owner of the Wall Street Journal.
Tasked with taking over the family business, Murdoch then started managing “The News,” an Adelaide newspaper that his father had set up. He succeeded in turning the publication into a successful paper in Australia and subsequently went about acquiring other newspapers across the nation. Rupert Murdoch is an Australian-born media mogul who has a net worth of $19 billion.
The land was owned by Gone With The Wind director Victor Fleming before it was transformed into a vineyard by corporate titan Thomas Jones in the 1970s. Murdoch paid $28.8 million for the property after seeing it advertised in The Wall Street Journal, a newspaper owned by Murdoch’s News Corp. . Rupert Murdoch is regarded as a successful media investor who built News Corp through a series of strategic global acquisitions and innovations. As the former co-chairman of the Fox Corporation and the executive chairman of News Corp, Murdoch has controlled a journalism empire that includes cable channel Fox News, Sky News Australia, and The Wall Street Journal. While in college, Rupert joined the Daily Express in London as an editor, a role which would prepare him for his role as managing director of News Corp Australia at the age of 22. He once noted “I was brought up in a publishing home, a newspaper man’s home, and was excited by that, I suppose. I saw that life at close range and, after the age of ten or twelve never really considered any other.”
The wider Murdoch family, which includes his children Elisabeth and James, is estimated to be worth $17.3 billion.
Beaverhead Ranch, a 340,000-acre working cattle farm located in southwest Montana near Yellowstone National Park, was purchased more than 70 years ago by Fred C. Koch, the late founder of Koch Industries. The conglomerate, which ranks as the U.S.’s second-largest private company according to Forbes, has been run for decades by one of his sons, billionaire Charles Koch, a prolific Republican donor. The deal between the two conservative giants of the mega-rich was first reported Thursday by The Wall Street Journal, citing people with knowledge of the transaction. A spokesperson for Murdoch confirmed the purchase of the ranch, known as Beaverhead, to the WSJ, but did not comment on the price. (Representatives for the Murdoch and Koch families did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Forbes). “For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change,” Murdoch said in the memo.
Murdoch’s son, Lachlan, who runs the Fox empire including its broadcast, cable news, business and sports networks, purchased his own Bel Air home in 2019. Australian-born businessman Rupert Murdoch inherited the Sunday Mail and the News from his father, a famous war correspondent and newspaper publisher. Murdoch continued to purchase other media outlets over the years, including American newspapers beginning in the 1970s. He branched out into entertainment with the purchase of 20th Century Fox Film Corp. in 1985 and later sparked a transformation of the cable TV landscape by introducing Fox News. Four years after restructuring his empire rupert murdoch net worth into two divisions, 21st Century Fox Inc. and News Corp., Murdoch sold much of 21st Century Fox to the Walt Disney Company in 2017. Amid the restructuring of 21st Century Fox, the company engaged in talks with Walt Disney over the sale of its properties.
In June 2015, news broke that Murdoch would be handing over the leadership of 21st Century Fox to his son James. Murdoch would remain with the organization as executive co-chairman, sharing the role with his oldest son, Lachlan. In 2015, it was reported that Rupert Murdoch had sold a $30-million home in Beverly Hills to his son, James Murdoch. He had previously listed the property on the open market for $35 million before offloading it to his son for $5 million less. The property was built in the 1920s, and James was quoted as saying that he wished to preserve the historical integrity of the residence as he contemplated future renovations. In 2011, Rupert was accused of hacking into the phones of some of the world’s most prominent celebs, including royalty and politicians.
While discussions were said to have ended by November 2017, they reportedly renewed within a few weeks, with Fox considering offers for its movie and cable networks and international divisions. In mid-December, terms of an agreement were reached in which Disney would purchase most of 21st Century Fox in an all-stock transaction valued at around $52.4 billion. Murdoch—who retained control of Fox News, the Fox broadcast network, and the FS1 sports cable channel—said he would spin those assets into a newly listed company. Murdoch has drawn wide criticism for monopolizing control over international media outlets as well as for his conservative political views, which are often reflected in the reporting of Murdoch-controlled outlets such as Fox News. In the 2010 U.S. midterm elections, News Corp donated $1 million each to the Republican Governors Association and the U.S. Critics argued that the owner of major news sources covering the election shouldn’t contribute directly to the political campaigns involved.
Murdoch was able to take more control of Fox stations after becoming a US citizen in 1985. Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as chairman of Fox Corporation and News Corp, the companies said in a statement Thursday. By 1973, Rupert Murdoch began a series of acquisitions in the United States including the San Antonio News, the Star in 1974, New York magazine, and the Chicago Sun-Times. He expanded to book publishing, acquiring Harper & Row in 1987, and later Collins, both subsequently merged to form HarperCollins.
