Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch
Born	Keith Rupert Murdoch 11 3, 1931
Birthplace	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Nationality	American, Australian (former)
Occupation	Media proprietor, investor, former corporate chairman
Known for	Founder and former chairman of News Corp and Fox Corporation
Education	Worcester College, Oxford (MA)
Spouse(s)	Patricia Booker (m. 1956; div. 1967) Anna Torv (m. 1967; div. 1999) Wendi Deng (m. 1999; div. 2013) Jerry Hall (m. 2016; div. 2022) Elena Zhukova (m. 2024)
Children	6
Awards	Companion of the Order of Australia (revoked)

Keith Rupert Murdoch (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American media proprietor and former business executive whose career spanning more than seven decades reshaped the global media landscape. From a single newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, inherited upon his father's death in 1952, Murdoch built one of the world's largest and most influential media conglomerates, encompassing newspapers, book publishing, film studios, satellite television, and cable news across multiple continents. Through his companies News Corp and Fox Corporation, Murdoch became the owner of hundreds of publishing outlets worldwide, including The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, The Times and The Sun in the United Kingdom, The Australian and The Daily Telegraph in Australia, book publisher HarperCollins, and the Fox News television channel. He also previously owned the film studio Twentieth Century Fox, the British satellite broadcaster Sky, and the now-defunct tabloid News of the World. In September 2023, Murdoch announced his retirement as chairman of both Fox Corp. and News Corp, bringing to a close one of the longest and most consequential tenures in the history of global media. His publications and television channels have drawn sustained criticism and scrutiny for their editorial stances and political influence, while his family's internal disputes over the control of his empire have become the subject of extensive media coverage and published accounts.

Early Life

Keith Rupert Murdoch was born on 11 March 1931 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. His father, Sir Keith Murdoch, was a prominent Australian journalist and newspaper executive who had gained fame as a war correspondent during World War I, particularly for his role in exposing the conditions at Gallipoli. The elder Murdoch later became managing director of the Herald and Weekly Times newspaper group, one of Australia's leading media companies. His mother, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch (née Greene), was a noted philanthropist who became one of Australia's most respected public figures in her own right.

Murdoch grew up in a household steeped in the newspaper business. He attended Geelong Grammar School, one of Australia's most prestigious private schools, where he reportedly showed an early interest in journalism and media. As a young man, Murdoch was exposed to his father's extensive network of political and business contacts throughout Australia, experiences that would later inform his own approach to wielding media influence.

Sir Keith Murdoch died in 1952, when Rupert was 21 years old. Contrary to expectations, the elder Murdoch's estate was not as large as many had assumed; the Herald and Weekly Times board had structured matters so that Sir Keith did not hold a controlling stake. What the younger Murdoch did inherit was The News, a small afternoon tabloid newspaper based in Adelaide, South Australia. This single paper would serve as the foundation upon which Murdoch would construct his global media empire.

Taking over the running of The News at the age of 21, Murdoch quickly demonstrated the aggressive editorial and business instincts that would define his career. He adopted a populist, tabloid-style approach that emphasized sensational headlines and bold coverage, strategies that boosted circulation and provided the revenue base for further acquisitions.

Education

Murdoch was educated at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, Australia. He subsequently attended Worcester College at the University of Oxford in England, where he studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE), a degree course that has produced numerous prominent politicians and media figures. His time at Oxford exposed him to British media culture and political life, and he reportedly kept a bust of Lenin in his rooms—an ironic detail given his later association with conservative politics and free-market economics. At Oxford, Murdoch also managed the student newspaper Cherwell and developed connections that would prove useful in his later business dealings in the United Kingdom.

Career

Early Australian Acquisitions (1952–1968)

Upon inheriting The News in Adelaide following his father's death in 1952, Murdoch returned to Australia from Oxford and began transforming the paper into a profitable tabloid. He applied a formula of bold headlines, crime reporting, and populist editorial content that attracted readers and advertisers alike. The success of The News provided Murdoch with the capital and confidence to pursue additional acquisitions throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

During this period, Murdoch acquired a succession of newspapers across Australia, gradually building a chain that gave him significant reach in the Australian media market. Among his major early acquisitions were The Daily Telegraph in Sydney and several other metropolitan and regional publications. He also expanded into New Zealand, purchasing newspapers there as part of his strategy to dominate the Australasian media landscape. In 1964, he founded The Australian, the country's first national daily newspaper, establishing himself as a figure of national significance in Australian media and public life.

These early years established patterns that would recur throughout Murdoch's career: an appetite for acquisition, a willingness to engage in price wars and aggressive competition, and a readiness to use his publications' editorial influence to advance his business and political interests.

Expansion into the United Kingdom (1969–1986)

Murdoch made his first major international move in 1969, acquiring the News of the World, a British Sunday tabloid with a large circulation. He followed this shortly afterward with the purchase of The Sun, a daily tabloid that he transformed from a struggling broadsheet into a brash, populist paper that became the best-selling daily newspaper in the United Kingdom. The Sun became known for its sensational headlines, Page 3 photographs, and outspoken editorial positions, and its influence on British politics and culture was substantial.

In 1981, Murdoch acquired The Times and The Sunday Times, two of Britain's most respected broadsheet newspapers. The acquisition of The Times marked Murdoch's entry into the market for serious, establishment journalism and was controversial, with critics expressing concern about the concentration of media ownership and the potential for editorial interference.

One of the most contentious episodes of Murdoch's British career came in 1986, when he moved his London printing operations from Fleet Street to a new plant in Wapping, East London. The move was driven by Murdoch's desire to adopt newer electronic publishing technologies and to break the power of the print unions, which he viewed as obstructing modernization. The relocation triggered bitter industrial disputes, with thousands of print workers going on strike and engaging in prolonged picketing outside the Wapping plant. The dispute, which lasted over a year, resulted in the dismissal of approximately 6,000 workers and was seen as a watershed moment in British industrial relations, contributing to the decline of union influence in the newspaper industry.

Move to the United States (1974–2000s)

In 1974, Murdoch moved to New York City to begin expanding into the American market while retaining his interests in Australia and the United Kingdom. His first major American acquisition was the New York Post, a tabloid newspaper that he purchased in 1976 and which became a vehicle for his populist editorial approach in the American context.

In 1985, Murdoch became a naturalized American citizen, relinquishing his Australian citizenship. This step was taken to satisfy the legal requirement that American television network owners be U.S. citizens, reflecting Murdoch's ambition to move into the American broadcast market. That same year, his holding company News Corporation acquired Twentieth Century Fox, the major Hollywood film studio, for approximately $575 million. This acquisition gave Murdoch a foothold in the entertainment industry and provided the foundation for his subsequent launch of the Fox Broadcasting Company in 1986, which became the fourth major American broadcast television network.

In 1989, News Corporation acquired the book publisher HarperCollins, adding a major publishing house to its portfolio. Throughout the 1990s, Murdoch continued to expand aggressively, forming the British satellite broadcaster BSkyB in 1990 and extending his reach into Asian networks through Star TV and South American television markets. By 2000, Murdoch's News Corporation owned more than 800 companies in more than 50 countries.

In 1996, Murdoch launched Fox News, a cable news channel that adopted a format combining news coverage with opinion programming. Under the leadership of its founding chairman Roger Ailes, Fox News grew to become the most-watched cable news network in the United States. The channel's editorial orientation became closely associated with conservative politics in America, and its influence on the American political landscape has been the subject of extensive commentary and analysis.

In 2007, News Corporation acquired Dow Jones & Company, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, for approximately $5 billion. The acquisition of one of the world's most respected financial newspapers was a milestone in Murdoch's career and extended his influence into the business press.

Phone-Hacking Scandal and Its Aftermath (2011–2012)

In July 2011, Murdoch and his companies faced a major crisis when allegations emerged that journalists at the News of the World had been regularly hacking the phones of celebrities, members of the British royal family, and ordinary citizens, including victims of crime. The revelations triggered widespread public outrage, particularly when it was reported that the phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler had been hacked by the paper's journalists.

The scandal led to the closure of the News of the World in July 2011, ending 168 years of publication. Murdoch and his son James Murdoch were called to testify before a British parliamentary committee investigating the matter. Murdoch faced police and government investigations into bribery and corruption by British authorities, as well as FBI investigations in the United States.

On 21 July 2012, Murdoch resigned as a director of News International, the British arm of his media empire. The crisis led to the Leveson Inquiry, a public judicial inquiry into the culture, practices, and ethics of the British press. While the scandal damaged Murdoch's reputation and led to criminal prosecutions of several of his former employees, it did not ultimately dislodge him from control of his media empire.

Corporate Restructuring and Later Career

In the aftermath of the phone-hacking scandal, News Corporation was split in 2013 into two separate publicly traded companies: News Corp, which held the publishing assets (newspapers, book publishing, and digital real estate services), and 21st Century Fox, which held the entertainment and broadcasting assets (film studios, television networks, and cable channels).

In 2018, Murdoch sold the majority of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets to The Walt Disney Company for approximately $71.3 billion, a deal that included the Twentieth Century Fox film and television studios, Fox's stake in Sky, and various cable networks. The remaining assets—including Fox News, Fox Sports, and the Fox broadcast network—were spun off into a new company called Fox Corporation, with Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert's eldest son from his second marriage, serving as executive chairman and CEO.

In September 2023, Murdoch announced he would be stepping down as chairman of both Fox Corporation and News Corp, effectively retiring from active management of the media empire he had built over seven decades. His son Lachlan assumed the role of sole chairman of both companies.

Continued Influence Post-Retirement

Even after his formal retirement, Murdoch's media properties have continued to exercise significant political influence. In early 2026, the New York Post, the flagship Murdoch tabloid in the United States, launched a California edition called The California Post, signaling the outlet's national ambitions beyond its New York roots.

Murdoch's publications have continued to take editorial positions that diverge from strict partisan loyalty. In February 2026, the Wall Street Journal editorial board published pieces critical of President Donald Trump's economic policies, with one editorial characterizing his fixation on tariffs as a "losing wager" for the Republican Party. Fox News host Brian Kilmeade also made on-air appeals to the president regarding policy in Minneapolis, in what observers described as a coordinated effort by Murdoch's media outlets to influence the administration's direction.

Personal Life

Murdoch has been married five times. His first marriage was to Patricia Booker, a former flight attendant from Melbourne, in 1956; the couple had one daughter, Prudence, before divorcing in 1967. Later that year, Murdoch married Anna Torv, a Scottish-born journalist working in Australia. The couple had three children—Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James—before divorcing in 1999, in what was reported at the time as one of the most expensive divorce settlements in history. Anna Murdoch Mann dePeyster, as she was later known, died in February 2026 at the age of 81 following a long illness. She was described as a novelist, philanthropist, and "constant, steely, polished consort" during her three decades of marriage to Murdoch.

In 1999, Murdoch married Wendi Deng, a Chinese-born businesswoman, with whom he had two daughters, Grace and Chloe. The couple divorced in 2013. In 2016, Murdoch married Jerry Hall, an American-born model and actress. Their marriage ended in divorce in 2022. In 2024, Murdoch married Elena Zhukova, a retired molecular biologist.

Murdoch became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1985, relinquishing his Australian citizenship to comply with American regulations on television station ownership. His six children from his first three marriages have played varying roles in the family business, and the question of succession and control of the Murdoch media empire has been a source of extensive public and legal attention.

Recognition

Murdoch's career has attracted both accolades and criticism of unusual intensity. He was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, though the honour was later revoked. He has been recognized by various industry bodies for his role in shaping global media, and Time magazine has included him on its lists of the most influential people in the world.

At the same time, Murdoch's influence over politics and media has generated sustained criticism. Many of his newspapers and television channels have been accused of right-wing editorial bias and of using their platforms to advance Murdoch's business interests and those of his political allies. In Australia, his publications have been criticized for their editorial positions on issues including climate change and government policy. In the United Kingdom, the relationship between Murdoch and successive prime ministers has been a recurring subject of political commentary, with critics arguing that his media holdings gave him disproportionate political influence.

Due to his extensive wealth and influence over media and politics across multiple countries, Murdoch has been described by commentators as an oligarch. His career has been the subject of numerous books, documentaries, and dramatizations, including the HBO series Succession, which was reportedly inspired in part by the Murdoch family dynamics.

Legacy

Murdoch's impact on global media is a subject of extensive analysis and debate. Over a career spanning from 1952 to his formal retirement in 2023, he transformed a single inherited newspaper into a multinational conglomerate that at its peak owned more than 800 companies across more than 50 countries. His business strategies—including aggressive acquisition, populist editorial approaches, cross-platform media integration, and the leveraging of political relationships—became templates studied and emulated throughout the media industry.

Gabriel Sherman's 2026 book Bonfire of the Murdochs: How the Epic Fight to Control the Last Great Media Dynasty Broke a Family — and the World examined how the internal family struggle over control of the Murdoch empire intersected with broader questions about media power, political influence, and democratic governance. Andrew O'Hagan, reviewing the book in The New Yorker, situated the Murdoch story within the larger narrative of how media ownership shapes public discourse and political outcomes in democratic societies.

Murdoch's creation of Fox News in 1996 altered the American media landscape by demonstrating the commercial viability of partisan cable news, a model subsequently adopted by competitors across the political spectrum. His transformation of The Sun reshaped the British tabloid market, and his Wapping revolution of 1986 accelerated the technological modernization of Fleet Street. His acquisition of The Wall Street Journal consolidated his influence over the American business press.

The question of succession—who would control the Murdoch media empire after his retirement—became one of the most scrutinized corporate governance stories of the early 21st century. While Lachlan Murdoch assumed formal leadership of both Fox Corporation and News Corp, the broader family dynamics involving Murdoch's six children from three marriages have remained a subject of public and legal interest, with implications for the editorial direction of media properties that reach hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

Clay Shirky, the media theorist, has noted that Murdoch's career coincided with and contributed to fundamental shifts in the economics and culture of news media, from the print era through satellite television to the digital age.