Rupert Murdoch

Keith Rupert Murdoch (born on March 11, 1931), is an Australian-born American media proprietor who is the majority shareholder and managing director of News Corporation, one of the world's largest and most influential media corporations. He is one of the few chief executives of any multinational media corporation who (through his family company) has a controlling ownership share in the companies he runs. Beginning with newspapers, magazines and television stations in his native Australia, Murdoch expanded into British and American media, and in recent years has become a powerful force in satellite television, the film industry and other forms of media.

Personal life

Murdoch has been married three times. His first marriage in 1956 was to Patricia Booker, with whom he had one child, Prudence Murdoch MacLeod. They were divorced in 1960. In 1967 he married an employee, journalist, Anna Murdoch (neé Torv), a devout Roman Catholic of Estonian descent, and they had three children: Elisabeth Murdoch (now prominent in British media businesses), Lachlan Murdoch and James Murdoch. Anna and Rupert divorced acrimoniously in 1998, with a settlement of some reported 1.7 billion USD in assets. It was revealed that Murdoch had been conducting a long-running affair with Wendi Deng, a junior executive in News Corporation's Asian operations and almost 40 years his junior; they married soon afterwards (in 1999). Murdoch has two children with Wendi Deng: Grace (born 2001) and Chloe (born 2003).

Related Topics:
1956 - 1967 - Anna Murdoch - Elisabeth Murdoch - Lachlan Murdoch - James Murdoch - 1998 - Wendi Deng

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Murdoch's eldest son Lachlan, formerly the deputy chief operating officer at the News Corporation and the publisher of the New York Post, was Murdoch's heir apparent prior to resigning from his executive posts at the global media company at the end of July 2005. Lachlan's surprise departure left James, the chief executive of the satellite television service British Sky Broadcasting since November 2003, as the only Murdoch child still directly involved with the company's operations, though Lachlan has agreed to remain on the News Corporation's board.

Related Topics:
New York Post - 2005 - British Sky Broadcasting - 2003

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There is reported to be tension between Murdoch and the children of his first two marriages over the terms of a trust holding the family's 28.5 percent stake in News Corporation, estimated in 2005 to be worth about $6.1 billion. Under the trust his children by Wendi Deng share in the proceeds of the stock but have no voting privileges or control of the stock. Voting rights in the stock are divided 50/50 between Murdoch on the one side and his children by prior marriages. This was a compromise agreed to by his former wife Anna in lieu of a large cash settlement at the time of their divorce. Murdoch's voting privileges are not transferrable but will expire upon his death and the stock will then be controlled solely by his children from the prior marriages, although their half-siblings will continue to derive their share of income from it.

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It is Murdoch's stated desire to have his children by Wendi Deng given a measure of control over the stock proportional to their financial interest in it. However it does not appear that he has any strong legal grounds to contest the present arrangement and his four children by Anna Torv and Patricia Booker are said to be unwilling to make any such change (see ).

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Rupert Murdoch was diagnosed with prostate cancer some years ago and treated with apparent success.

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