After his fatherKeith Murdoch died in 1952, Murdoch took over the running ofThe News, a smallAdelaide newspaper owned by his father. In the 1950s and 1960s, Murdoch acquired a number of newspapers in Australia andNew Zealand before expanding into theUnited Kingdom in 1969, taking over theNews of the World, followed closely byThe Sun. In 1974, Murdoch moved to New York City, to expand into the American market; however, he retained interests in Australia and the United Kingdom. In 1981, Murdoch boughtThe Times, his first Britishbroadsheet, and, in 1985, became anaturalized American citizen, giving up his Australian citizenship, to satisfy the legal requirement for American television network ownership.[9] In 1986, keen to adopt newer electronic publishing technologies, Murdoch consolidated his British printing operations in London, causing bitter industrial disputes. His holding companyNews Corporation acquiredTwentieth Century Fox (1985), HarperCollins (1989),[10] andThe Wall Street Journal (2007). Murdoch formed the British broadcasterBSkyB in 1990 and, during the 1990s, expanded into Asian networks and South American television. By 2000, Murdoch's News Corporation owned more than 800 companies in more than 50 countries, with a net worth of more than $5 billion.[11]
In July 2011, Murdoch faced allegations that his companies, including theNews of the World, owned by News Corporation, had been regularlyhacking the phones of celebrities, royalty, and public citizens. Murdoch faced police and government investigations intobribery and corruption by the British government andFBI investigations in the United States.[12][13] On 21 July 2012, Murdoch resigned as a director ofNews International.[14][15] In September 2023, Murdoch announced he would be stepping down as chairman of Fox Corp. and News Corp.[16]
Many of Murdoch's papers and television channels have been accused of right-wingbias and misleading coverage to support his business interests[17][18][19] and political allies,[20][21][22] and some have linked his influence with major political developments in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia.[20][23][4]
The Murdoch family was involved in a U.S. court case in which his three children—Elisabeth,Prudence, andJames—challenged his bid to amend thefamily trust to ensure that his eldest son,Lachlan, retains control of News Corp and Fox Corp, rather than the trust benefiting all of his six children, as is specified in its "irrevocable" terms.[24] In September 2025, they reached a settlement, giving Lachlan ownership of Murdoch's media empire.[25]
Early life and education
Keith Rupert Murdoch was born on 11 March 1931 inMelbourne, Victoria, Australia, the second of four children of SirKeith Arthur Murdoch (1885–1952) and DameElisabeth Joy (née Greene; 1909–2012).[26][27]: 9 He is of English, Irish and Scottish ancestry. His parents were also born in Melbourne. Murdoch's father was awar correspondent and later a regional newspaper magnate; he owned two newspapers inAdelaide, South Australia and a radio station in a remote mining town and was chairman of theHerald and Weekly Times publishing company.[9][28]: 16 [29] Murdoch has three sisters: Helen (1929–2004), Anne (born 1935) and Janet (born 1939).[30]: 47 His paternal grandfather,Patrick John Murdoch, was a Scottish-bornPresbyterian minister who emigrated to Australia in 1884.[31]
After his father's death from cancer in 1952, Murdoch's mother did charity work as the life governor of theRoyal Women's Hospital in Melbourne and established theMurdoch Children's Research Institute; at the age of 102 (in 2011), she had 74 descendants.[38] While his father was alive, Murdoch worked part-time at theMelbourne Herald and was groomed by his father to take over the family business.[9][35] After his father's death, he began working as a sub-editor with theDaily Express for two years.[9]
Activities in Australia and New Zealand
Journalist SirKeith Murdoch (1885–1952), Rupert Murdoch's father
Following his father's death, when he was 21, Murdoch returned from Oxford to take charge of what was left of the family business. After liquidation of his father'sHerald stake to pay taxes, what was left wasNews Limited, which had been established in 1923.[28]: 16 Rupert Murdoch turned itsAdelaide newspaper,The News, its main asset, into a major success.[35] He began to direct his attention to acquisition and expansion, buying the troubledSunday Times inPerth, Western Australia (1956) and over the next few years acquiring suburban and provincial newspapers in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and theNorthern Territory, including the Sydney afternoon tabloidThe Daily Mirror (1960).The Economist describes Murdoch as "inventing the modern tabloid",[39] as he developed a pattern for his newspapers, increasing sports and scandal coverage and adopting eye-catching headlines.[9]
Murdoch's first foray outside Australia involved the purchase of a controlling interest in the New Zealand dailyThe Dominion. In January 1964, while touring New Zealand with friends in a rented Morris Minor after sailing across the Tasman, Murdoch read of a takeover bid for the Wellington paper by the British-based Canadian newspaper magnateLord Thomson of Fleet. On the spur of the moment, he launched a counter-bid. A four-way battle for control ensued in which the 32-year-old Murdoch was ultimately successful.[40] Later in 1964, Murdoch launchedThe Australian, Australia's first national daily newspaper, which was based first inCanberra and later in Sydney.[41] In 1972, Murdoch acquired the Sydney morning tabloidThe Daily Telegraph from Australian media mogul SirFrank Packer, who later regretted selling it to him.[42] In 1984, Murdoch was appointedCompanion of the Order of Australia (AC) for services to publishing.[43][44]
After theKeating government relaxed media ownership laws, in 1986 Murdoch launched a takeover bid forThe Herald and Weekly Times, which was the largest newspaper publisher in Australia.[45] There was a three-way takeover battle between Murdoch, Fairfax andRobert Holmes à Court, with Murdoch succeeding after agreeing to some divestments.
In 1999, Murdoch significantly expanded his music holdings in Australia by acquiring the controlling share in a leading Australian independent label,Michael Gudinski'sMushroom Records; he merged that withFestival Records, and the result wasFestival Mushroom Records (FMR). Both Festival and FMR were managed by Murdoch's sonJames Murdoch for several years.[46]
Political activities in Australia
Murdoch found a political ally in SirJohn McEwen, leader of the Australian Country Party (now known as theNational Party of Australia), who was governing in coalition with the larger Menzies-Holt-GortonLiberal Party. From the first issue ofThe Australian, Murdoch began taking McEwen's side in every issue that divided the long-serving coalition partners. (The Australian, 15 July 1964, first edition, front page: "Strain in Cabinet, Liberal-CP row flares.") It was an issue that threatened to split the coalition government and open the way for the stronger Australian Labor Party to dominate Australian politics. It was the beginning of a long campaign that served McEwen well.[47]
After McEwen andMenzies retired, Murdoch threw his growing power behind theAustralian Labor Party under the leadership ofGough Whitlam and duly saw it elected[48] on a social platform that included universal free health care, free education for all Australians to tertiary level, recognition of the People's Republic of China, and public ownership of Australia's oil, gas and mineral resources. Rupert Murdoch's backing of Whitlam turned out to be brief. Murdoch had already started his short-livedNational Star[47] newspaper in America, and was seeking to strengthen his political contacts there.[49]
Asked about the2007 Australian federal election at News Corporation's annual general meeting in New York on 19 October 2007, its chairman Rupert Murdoch said: "I am not commenting on anything to do withAustralian politics. I'm sorry. I always get into trouble when I do that." Pressed as to whether he believed Prime MinisterJohn Howard should continue as prime minister, he said: "I have nothing further to say. I'm sorry. Read our editorials in thepapers. It'll be the journalists who decide that – the editors."[50]
Murdoch described Howard's successor, Labor Party Prime MinisterKevin Rudd, as "more ambitious to lead the world [in tackling climate change] than to lead Australia" and criticised Rudd's expansionary fiscal policies in the wake of the2008 financial crisis as unnecessary.[51] In 2009, in response to accusations by Rudd that News Limited was running vendettas against him and his government, Murdoch opined that Rudd was "oversensitive".[52] Although News Limited's interests are extensive, also including theDaily Telegraph, theCourier-Mail and theAdelaide Advertiser, it was suggested by the commentatorMungo MacCallum inThe Monthly that "the anti-Rudd push, if coordinated at all, was almost certainly locally driven" as opposed to being directed by Murdoch, who also took a different position from local editors on such matters as climate change and stimulus packages to mitigate the effects of the2008 financial crisis.[53]
In 1968, Murdoch entered the British newspaper market with his acquisition of the populistNews of the World, followed in 1969 with the purchase of the struggling dailyThe Sun fromIPC.[55] Murdoch turnedThe Sun into atabloid format and reduced costs by using the same printing press for both newspapers. On acquiring it, he appointedAlbert 'Larry' Lamb as editor and – Lamb recalled later – told him: "I want a tearaway paper with lots of tits in it". In 1997The Sun attracted 10 million daily readers.[9] In 1981, Murdoch acquired the strugglingTimes andSunday Times from Canadian newspaper publisherLord Thomson of Fleet.[55] Ownership ofThe Times came to him through his relationship with Lord Thomson, who had grown tired of losing money on it as a result of an extended period of industrial action that stopped publication.[56] In the light of success and expansion atThe Sun the owners believed that Murdoch could turn the papers around.Harold Evans, editor of theSunday Times from 1967, was switched to the dailyTimes, though he stayed only a year amid editorial conflict with Murdoch.[57][58]
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Murdoch's publications were generally supportive of Britain's Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher.[59] At the end of theThatcher/Major era, Murdoch switched his support to theLabour Party and its leader,Tony Blair. The closeness of his relationship with Blair and their secret meetings to discuss national policies was to become a political issue in Britain.[60] This later changed, withThe Sun, in its English editions, publicly renouncing the ruling Labour government and lending its support toDavid Cameron'sConservative Party, which soon afterwards formed a coalition government. In Scotland, where the Conservatives had suffered a complete annihilation in 1997, the paper began to endorse theScottish National Party (though not yet its flagship policy of independence), which soon after came to form the first-ever outright majority in the proportionally elected Scottish Parliament. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official spokesman said in November 2009 that Brown and Murdoch "were in regular communication" and that "there is nothing unusual in the prime minister talking to Rupert Murdoch".[61]
In 1986, Murdoch introduced electronic production processes to his newspapers in Australia, Britain and the United States. The greater degree of automation led to significant reductions in the number of employees involved in the printing process. In England, the move roused the anger of the print unions, resulting in a long and often violent dispute that played out inWapping, one of London's docklands areas, where Murdoch had installed the very latest electronic newspaper purpose-built publishing facility in an old warehouse.[62] The bitterWapping dispute started with the dismissal of 6,000 employees who had gone on strike and resulted in street battles and demonstrations. Many on the political left in Britain alleged the collusion of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government with Murdoch in the Wapping affair, as a way of damaging theBritish trade union movement.[63][64][65] In 1987, the dismissed workers accepted a settlement of £60 million.[9]
In 1998, Murdoch made an attempt to buy the football clubManchester United F.C.,[66] with an offer of £625 million, but this failed. It was the largest amount ever offered for a sports club. It was blocked by theUnited Kingdom's Competition Commission, which stated that the acquisition would have "hurt competition in the broadcast industry and the quality of British football".
Murdoch's British-based satellite network,Sky Television, incurred massive losses in its early years of operation. As with many of his other business interests, Sky was heavily subsidised by the profits generated by his other holdings, but convinced rival satellite operatorBritish Satellite Broadcasting to accept a merger on his terms in 1990.[9] The merged company,BSkyB, has dominated the British pay-TV market ever since, pursuingdirect to home (DTH) satellite broadcasting.[67] By 1996, BSkyB had more than 3.6 million subscribers, triple the number of cable customers in the UK.[9]
In response to print media's decline and the increasing influence of online journalism during the 2000s, Murdoch proclaimed his support of themicropayments model for obtaining revenue from online news,[69] although this has been criticised by some.[70]
In January 2018, theCMA blocked Murdoch from taking over the remaining 61% ofBSkyB he did not already own, over fear of market dominance that could potentialise censorship of the media. His bid for BSkyB was later approved by the CMA as long as he soldSky News tothe Walt Disney Company, which was already set to acquire 21st Century Fox. However, it wasComcast who won control of BSkyB in a blind auction ordered by the CMA. Murdoch ultimately sold his 39% of BSkyB to Comcast.[71]
In Britain, in the 1980s, Murdoch formed a close alliance withConservative prime ministerMargaret Thatcher.[73] In February 1981, when Murdoch, already owner ofThe Sun andThe News of the World, sought to buyThe Times andThe Sunday Times, Thatcher's government let his bid pass without referring it to theMonopolies and Mergers Commission, which was usual practice at the time.[74][75][76] Although contact between the two before this point had been explicitly denied in an official history ofThe Times, documents found in Thatcher's archives in 2012 revealed a secret meeting had taken place a month before in which Murdoch briefed Thatcher on his plans for the paper, such as taking on trade unions.[74][75][77]
The Labour Party, from when Blair became leader in 1994, had moved from the centre-left to a more centrist position on many economic issues before 1997. Murdoch identifies himself as alibertarian, saying "What does libertarian mean? As much individual responsibility as possible, as little government as possible, as few rules as possible. But I'm not saying it should be taken to the absolute limit."[78]
In a speech he delivered in New York in 2005, Murdoch claimed that Blair described theBBC coverage of theHurricane Katrina disaster, which was critical of the Bush administration's response, as full of hatred of America.[79]
On 28 June 2006, the BBC reported that Murdoch and News Corporation were considering backing newConservative leaderDavid Cameron at the next General Election – still up to four years away.[80] In a later interview in July 2006, when he was asked what he thought of the Conservative leader, Murdoch replied "Not much".[81] In a 2009 blog, it was suggested that in the aftermath of theNews of the World phone hacking scandal, which might yet have transatlantic implications,[82] Murdoch and News Corporation might have decided to back Cameron.[83] Despite this, there had already been a convergence of interests between the two men over the muting of Britain's communications regulatorOfcom.[84]
In August 2008, Cameron accepted free flights to hold private talks and attend private parties with Murdoch on his yacht, theRosehearty.[85] Cameron declared in the Commons register of interests he accepted a private plane provided by Murdoch's son-in-law, public relations guruMatthew Freud; Cameron did not reveal his talks with Murdoch. The gift of travel in Freud'sGulfstream IV private jet was valued at around £30,000. Other guests attending the "social events" included the then EU trade commissionerPeter Mandelson, the Russian oligarchOleg Deripaska and co-chairman ofNBC UniversalBen Silverman. The Conservatives did not disclose what was discussed.[86]
In July 2011, it emerged that Cameron had met key executives of Murdoch's News Corporation a total of 26 times during the 14 months that Cameron had served as prime minister up to that point.[87] It was also reported that Murdoch had given Cameron a personal guarantee that there would be no risk attached to hiringAndy Coulson, the former editor ofNews of the World, as the Conservative Party's communication director in 2007.[88] This was in spite of Coulson having resigned as editor over phone hacking by a reporter. Cameron chose to take Murdoch's advice, despite warnings from the deputy prime minister,Nick Clegg,Lord Ashdown andThe Guardian.[89] Coulson resigned his post in 2011 and was later arrested and questioned on allegations of further criminal activity at theNews of the World, specifically the phone hacking scandal. As a result of the subsequent trial, Coulson was sentenced to 18 months in jail.[90]
In June 2016,The Sun supported Vote Leave in theUnited Kingdom European Union membership referendum. Murdoch called theBrexit result "wonderful", comparing the decision to withdraw from the EU to "a prison break ... we're out".[91] Anthony Hilton, economics editor for theEvening Standard but describing a period when he interviewed Murdoch forThe Guardian, quoted Murdoch as justifying hisEuroscepticism with the words "When I go into Downing Street, they do what I say; when I go to Brussels, they take no notice."[92] Murdoch denied saying this later in a letter toThe Guardian.[93][94]
With some exceptions,The Sun had generally been supportive of the government of Conservative prime ministerBoris Johnson. Murdoch and his employees were the media representatives ministers from theCabinet andTreasury most frequently held meetings during the first two years of Johnson's government. However, newspaper circulation in general including among subsidiaries of News International fell sharply in the United Kingdom during the early 21st century, leading some commentators to suggest that Murdoch was not as influential in British political debate by the early 2020s as he had once been.[95][96][97]
In July 2011, Murdoch, along with his youngest sonJames, provided testimony before aBritish parliamentary committee regarding phone hacking. In the UK, his media empire came under fire, as investigators probed reports of 2011 phone hacking.[98]
On 14 July 2011 theCulture, Media and Sport Committee of theHouse of Commons served asummons on Murdoch, his son James, and his former CEORebekah Brooks to testify before a committee five days later.[99] After an initial refusal, the Murdochs confirmed they would attend, after the committee issued them a summons to Parliament.[100] The day before the committee, the website of the News Corporation publicationThe Sun was hacked, and a false story was posted on the front page claiming that Murdoch had died.[101] Murdoch described the day of the committee "the most humble day of my life". He argued that since he ran a global business of 53,000 employees and thatNews of the World was "just 1%" of this, he was not ultimately responsible for what went on at the tabloid. He added that he had not considered resigning,[102] and that he and the other top executives had been completely unaware of the hacking.[103][104]
On 15 July, Murdoch attended a private meeting in London with the family ofMilly Dowler, where he personally apologised for the hacking of their murdered daughter's voicemail by a company he owns.[105][106] On 16 and 17 July, News International published two full-page apologies in many of Britain's national newspapers. The first apology took the form of a letter, signed by Murdoch, in which he said sorry for the "serious wrongdoing" that occurred. The second was titled "Putting right what's gone wrong", and gave more detail about the steps News International was taking to address the public's concerns.[106] In the wake of the allegations, Murdoch accepted the resignations of Brooks andLes Hinton, head of Dow Jones who was chairman of Murdoch's British newspaper division when some of the abuses happened. They both deny any knowledge of any wrongdoing under their command.[107]
On 27 February 2012, the day after the first issue ofThe Sun on Sunday was published, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers informed theLeveson Inquiry that police are investigating a "network of corrupt officials" as part of their inquiries into phone hacking and police corruption. She said that evidence suggested a "culture of illegal payments" atThe Sun and that these payments allegedly made byThe Sun were authorised at a senior level.[108]
In testimony on 25 April, Murdoch did not deny the quote attributed to him by his former editor ofThe Sunday Times,Harold Evans: "I give instructions to my editors all round the world, why shouldn't I in London?"[109][110] On 1 May 2012, theCulture, Media and Sport Committee issued a report stating that Murdoch was "not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company".[111][112]
On 3 July 2013, theExaro website andChannel 4 News broke the story of a secret recording. This was recorded byThe Sun journalists, and in it Murdoch can be heard telling them that the whole investigation was one big fuss over nothing, and that he, or his successors, would take care of any journalists who went to prison.[113] He said: "Why are the police behaving in this way? It's the biggest inquiry ever, over next to nothing."[114]
Murdoch made his first acquisition in the United States in 1973, when he purchased theSan Antonio Express-News. In 1974, Murdoch moved to New York City, to expand into the American market; however, he retained interests in Australia and Britain. Soon afterwards, he foundedStar, asupermarket tabloid, and in 1976, he purchased theNew York Post.[9] On 4 September 1985, Murdoch became a naturalized citizen to satisfy the legal requirement that only American citizens were permitted to own American television stations.[9]
In March 1984,Marvin Davis soldMarc Rich's interest in20th Century Fox to Murdoch for $250 million due to Rich's trade deals withIran, which were sanctioned by the US at the time. Davis later backed out of a deal with Murdoch to purchaseJohn Kluge's Metromedia television stations.[115] Rupert Murdoch bought the stations by himself, without Marvin Davis, and later bought out Davis's remaining stake in Fox for $325 million.[115] The six television stations owned byMetromedia formed the nucleus of theFox Broadcasting Company, founded on 9 October 1986, which later had great success with programs includingThe Simpsons andThe X-Files.[9]
In 1987, Murdoch created his global television special, the World Music Video Awards, a special music ceremony award where winners were chosen by viewers in eight countries.[117] In Australia, during 1987, he boughtThe Herald and Weekly Times Ltd., the company that his father had once managed.Rupert Murdoch's20th Century Fox bought out the remaining assets ofFour Star Television fromRonald Perelman'sCompact Video in 1996.[118] Most ofFour Star Television's library of programs are controlled by20th Century Fox Television today.[119][120][121] After Murdoch's numerous buyouts during thebuyout era of the eighties, News Corporation had built up financial debts of $7 billion (much from Sky TV in the UK), despite the many assets that were held by NewsCorp.[9] The high levels of debt caused Murdoch to sell many of the American magazine interests he had acquired in the mid-1980s.
In 1993, Murdoch'sFox Network took exclusive coverage of theNational Football Conference (NFC) of theNational Football League (NFL) fromCBS and increased programming to seven days a week.[122] In 1995, Fox became the object of scrutiny from theFederal Communications Commission (FCC), when it was alleged that News Ltd.'s Australian base made Murdoch's ownership of Fox illegal. However, the FCC ruled in Murdoch's favour, stating that his ownership of Fox was in the best interests of the public. That same year, Murdoch announced a deal withMCI Communications to develop a major news website and magazine,The Weekly Standard. Also that year, News Corporation launched theFoxtel pay television network in Australia in partnership withTelstra. In 1996, Murdoch decided to enter the cable news market with theFox News Channel, a24-hourcable news station. Ratings studies released in 2009 showed that the network was responsible for nine of the top ten programs in the "Cable News" category at that time.[123] Rupert Murdoch andTed Turner (founder and former owner of CNN) are long-standing rivals.[124] In late 2003, Murdoch acquired a 34% stake inHughes Electronics, the operator of the largest American satellite TV system,DirecTV, fromGeneral Motors for $6 billion (USD).[43] His Fox movie studio had global hits withTitanic andAvatar.[125]
In 2004, Murdoch announced that he was moving News Corporation headquarters from Adelaide, Australia to the United States. Choosing an American domicile was designed to ensure that American fund managers could purchase shares in the company, since many were deciding not to buy shares in non-American companies.[126]
News Corporation logo
On 20 July 2005, News Corporation boughtIntermix Media Inc., which heldMyspace,Imagine Games Network and other social networking-themed websites, for US$580 million, making Murdoch a major player in online media concerns.[127] In June 2011, it sold off Myspace for US$35 million.[128] On 11 September 2005, News Corporation announced that it would buyIGN Entertainment for $650 million (USD).[129]
In June 2014, Murdoch's 21st Century Fox made a bid forTime Warner at $85 per share in stock and cash ($80 billion total) which Time Warner's board of directors turned down in July. Warner'sCNN unit would have been sold to ease antitrust issues of the purchase.[134] On 5 August 2014 the company announced it had withdrawn its offer for Time Warner, and said it would spend $6 billion buying back its own shares over the following 12 months.[135]
Murdoch left his post as CEO of21st Century Fox in 2015 but continued to own the company until itwas purchased byDisney in 2019.[136][137][138] A number of television broadcasting assets were spun off into theFox Corporation before the acquisition and are still owned by Murdoch. This includesFox News, of which Murdoch was acting CEO from 2016 until 2019, following the resignation ofRoger Ailes due to accusations of sexual harassment.[139][5]
Murdoch considered merging News Corp and Fox Corporation, but in January 2023 announced to the board that he had withdrawn the idea, stating the that he and his son Lachlan had "determined that a combination [was] not optimal for shareholders of News Corp and FOX" at that time. The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of News Corp that had been set up to investigate the matter was dissolved.[140] In September 2023, Rupert Murdoch retired, and handed over the leadership of his businesses to his eldest son Lachlan.[141][142]
McKnight (2010) identifies four characteristics of his media operations:free market ideology; unified positions on matters of public policy; global editorial meetings; and opposition toliberal bias in other public media.[143]
InThe New Yorker,Ken Auletta writes that Murdoch's support forEdward I. Koch while he was running for mayor of New York "spilled over onto the news pages ofthe Post, with the paper regularly publishing glowing stories about Koch and sometimes savage accounts of his four primary opponents."[144]
According toThe New York Times,Ronald Reagan's campaign team credited Murdoch and the Post for his victory in New York in the1980 United States presidential election.[4] Reagan later "waived a prohibition against owning a television station and a newspaper in the same market," allowing Murdoch to continue to controlThe New York Post andThe Boston Herald while expanding into television.
On 8 May 2006, theFinancial Times reported that Murdoch would be hosting a fund-raiser for SenatorHillary Clinton's (D-New York)Senate re-election campaign.[145] In a 2008 interview withWalt Mossberg, Murdoch was asked whether he had "anything to do with theNew York Post's endorsement ofBarack Obama in the democratic primaries". Without hesitating, Murdoch replied, "Yeah. He is a rock star. It's fantastic. I love what he is saying about education. I don't think he will win Florida [...] but he will win inOhio and theelection. I am anxious to meet him. I want to see if he will walk the walk."[146][147]
Murdoch was reported in 2011 as advocating moreopen immigration policies inwestern nations generally.[153] In the United States, Murdoch and chief executives from several major corporations, includingHewlett-Packard,Boeing andDisney joined New York City MayorMichael Bloomberg to form thePartnership for a New American Economy to advocate "for immigration reform – including a path to legal status for all illegal aliens now in the United States".[154] The coalition, reflecting Murdoch and Bloomberg's own views, also advocates significant increases in legalimmigration to the United States as a means of boosting America's sluggish economy and lowering unemployment. The Partnership's immigration policy prescriptions are notably similar to those of the Cato Institute and the US Chamber of Commerce — both of which Murdoch has supported in the past.[155]
The Wall Street Journal editorial page has similarly advocated for increased legal immigration, in contrast to the staunch anti-immigration stance of Murdoch's British newspaper,The Sun.[156] On 5 September 2010, Murdoch testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law Membership on the "Role of Immigration in Strengthening America's Economy". In his testimony, Murdoch called for ending mass deportations and endorsed a "comprehensiveimmigration reform" plan that would include a pathway to citizenship for all illegal immigrants.[154]
In October 2015, Murdoch stirred controversy when he praisedRepublican presidential candidateBen Carson and referenced PresidentBarack Obama, tweeting, "Ben andCandy Carson terrific. What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide? And much else."[158] After which he apologised, tweeting, "Apologies! No offence meant. Personally find both men charming."[159]
DuringDonald Trump's term as US President Murdoch showed support for him through the news stories broadcast in his media empire, including on Fox News.[160] In early 2018,Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince ofSaudi Arabia, had an intimate dinner at Murdoch's Bel Air estate in Los Angeles.[161]
Murdoch is a strong supporter of Israel and its domestic policies.[162] In October 2010, theAnti-Defamation League in New York City presented Murdoch with its International Leadership Award "for his stalwart support of Israel and his commitment to promoting respect and speaking out againstantisemitism".[163][164] However, in April 2021, in a letter to Lachlan Murdoch, ADL directorJonathan Greenblatt wrote that it would no longer make such an award to his father. This was in the immediate context of accusations made by the ADL against Fox News presenterTucker Carlson and his apparent espousal of theWhite replacement theory.[165]
In July 2025, Murdoch was sued by Trump for $10 billion along with The Wall Street Journal's parent companyDow Jones over an article claiming that a birthday greeting containing Trump's name was sent toJeffrey Epstein in 2003.[168][169]
Activities in Europe
Murdoch owns a controlling interest inSky Italia, a satellite television provider in Italy.[170] Murdoch's business interests in Italy have been a source of contention since they began.[170] In 2009 Murdoch won a media dispute with then Italian prime ministerSilvio Berlusconi. A judge ruled the then prime minister's media armMediaset prevented News Corporation's Italian unit, Sky Italia, from buying advertisements on its television networks.[171]
Activities in Asia
In November 1986,News Corporation purchased a 35% stake in theSouth China Morning Post group for aboutUS$105 million. At that time, SCMP group was a stock-listed company, and was owned byHSBC,Hutchison Whampoa andDow Jones & Company.[172] In December 1986, Dow Jones & Company offered News Corporation to sell about 19% of share it owned of SCMP forUS$57.2 million,[173] and, by 1987, News Corporation completed the full takeover.[174] In September 1993, News Corporation have agreed to sell a 34.9% share in SCMP toRobert Kuok's Kerry Media forUS$349 million.[175] In 1994, News Corporation sold the remaining 15.1% share in SCMP toMUI Group, disposing the Hong Kong newspaper.[176][better source needed]
In June 1993, News Corporation attempted to acquire a 22% share inTVB, a terrestrial television broadcaster in Hong Kong, for about $237million,[177] but Murdoch's company gave up, as the Hong Kong government would not relax the regulation regarding foreign ownership of broadcasting companies.[178]
In 1993, News Corporation acquiredStar TV (renamed as Star in 2001), a Hong Kong company headed byRichard Li,[178] from Hutchison Whampoa for $1 billion (Souchou, 2000:28), and subsequently set up offices for it throughout Asia. The deal enabled News International to broadcast from Hong Kong to India, China, Japan, and over thirty other countries in Asia, becoming one of the biggest satellite television networks in the east;[9] however, the deal did not work out as Murdoch had planned because the Chinese government placed restrictions on it that prevented it from reaching most of China.[citation needed]
In 2009, News Corporation reorganised Star; a few of these arrangements were that the original company's operations in East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East were integrated intoFox International Channels, andStar India was spun-off (but still within News Corporation).[179][180][181]
As of December 2024[update], the whole Murdoch family is involved in a court case inReno,Nevada, in which James, his sisterElisabeth and half-sisterPrudence are challenging their father's bid to amend thefamily trust to ensure that his eldest son,Lachlan, retains control of News Corp and Fox Corp, rather than benefiting all of his six children, as is specified in the "irrevocable" terms of the trust. According toThe New York Times, Murdoch Senior wants his companies to remain politically conservative, and sees his other children as too politically liberal.[24][182]
The irrevocable family trust was set up after Rupert and Anna Murdoch's divorce in 1999, to hold the family's 28.5% stake in News Corp. It relates only to the children born before then, giving them equal say in the fate of the business after Rupert's death.[183] Chloe and Grace Murdoch, Rupert's children with third wifeWendi Deng, will have no say in the business,[184] although will share the stock proceeds.[183] The case follows Rupert's attempt to change the trust in 2023, and the Nevadaprobate commissioner's finding that he was allowed to amend the trust "if he is able to show he is acting in good faith and for the sole benefit of his heirs".[182] Rupert Murdoch is arguing interference by the other siblings would cause a financial loss to Fox, and therefore "in their own best interests if they have their votes taken away from them".[185] He argues that preserving the outlet's conservative editorial stance against interference by the more politically moderate siblings would better protect its commercial value.[183]
The case has led to the three children becoming estranged from their father, with none of them attending his wedding to his fifth wife, Elena Zhukova, in June 2024.[182]
On 9 September 2025, News Corp announced changes to the structure of the trust which controls the family's ownership of the company and Fox News.[186] As part of the changes, a partial share sale by the family trust was agreed, reported to be worth $3.3 billion, for Prudence MacLeod, Elisabeth Murdoch and James Murdoch's shares in News Corp and Fox News.[187] All three siblings will cease to be beneficiaries of any holdings in News Corp and Fox and will no longer have any voting rights.[187] As part of the new structure, Murdoch's eldest son and chairman of News Corp, Lachlan Murdoch, will assume full control of the family trust which owns both companies, including full voting rights.[186] It was announced that Murdoch's younger children, Grace Murdoch and Chloe Murdoch, will join as beneficiaries of the trust with no voting rights.[186]
In late 2020, during theCOVID-19 pandemic, it was reported that Murdoch and Hall had been isolating in their Binfield Heath home for much of the year. He received his firstCOVID-19 vaccine in nearbyHenley-on-Thames on 16 December.[193]
In 1956, Murdoch married Patricia Booker, a former shop assistant and flight attendant from Melbourne; the couple had their only child,Prudence, in 1958.[194][195] They divorced in 1967.[196]
In 1967, Murdoch marriedAnna Torv,[194] a Scottish-born cadet journalist working for his Sydney newspaperThe Daily Mirror.[196] In January 1998, three months before the announcement of his separation from Anna, a Roman Catholic, Murdoch was made aKnight Commander of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great (KSG), a papal honour awarded byPope John Paul II.[197] While Murdoch would often attend Mass with Torv, he never converted to Catholicism.[198][199] Torv and Murdoch had three children:Elisabeth Murdoch (born in Sydney, Australia on 22 August 1968),Lachlan Murdoch (born in London, UK on 8 September 1971), andJames Murdoch, (born in London on 13 December 1972).[194][195] Murdoch's companies published two novels by his wife:Family Business (1988) andComing to Terms (1991). They divorced in June 1999. Anna Murdoch received a settlement of US$1.2 billion in assets.[200]
On 25 June 1999, 17 days after divorcing his second wife, Murdoch, then aged 68, married Chinese-bornWendi Deng.[201] She was 30, a recentYale School of Management graduate, and a newly appointed vice-president of hisSTAR TV. Murdoch had two daughters with her: Grace (born 2001) and Chloe (born 2003). Murdoch has six children, and is grandfather to thirteen grandchildren.[202] Near the end of his marriage to Wendi, hearsay concerning a link with Chinese intelligence (which was later proven to be unfounded) became problematic to their relationship.[203][204] On 13 June 2013, a News Corporation spokesperson confirmed that Murdoch filed for divorce from Deng in New York City, US.[205][206] According to the spokesman, the marriage had been irretrievably broken for more than six months.[207] Murdoch also ended his long-standing friendship withTony Blair after suspecting him of having an affair with Deng while they were still married.[208]
Jerry Hall, Murdoch's fourth wife, whom he married in March 2016, photographed in 2009
On 11 January 2016, Murdoch announced his engagement to former modelJerry Hall in a notice inThe Times newspaper.[209] On 4 March 2016, Murdoch, a week short of his 85th birthday, and 59-year-old Hall were married in London, atSt Bride's, Fleet Street with a reception atSpencer House; this was Murdoch's fourth marriage.[210] In June 2022,The New York Times reported that Murdoch and Hall were set to divorce, citing two anonymous sources.[211][212] Hall filed for divorce on 1 July 2022 citing irreconcilable differences;[213] the divorce was finalised in August 2022.[214]
DuringSaint Patrick's Day celebrations in 2023,[215][216] Murdoch, who is quarter Irish, proposed to his partner,Ann Lesley Smith. The engaged couple first met at an event in September 2022.[217] In April 2023, two weeks after the couple were engaged, Murdoch suddenly called off the engagement. The split was said to be caused by Murdoch's discomfort with Smith's religious views and her infatuation with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, reportedly referring to him as "a messenger from God".[218][219] Carlson wasfired from Fox News three weeks later.[220]
Murdoch became engaged again in March 2024, to retiredRussianmolecular biologist Elena Zhukova, who is also the ex-wife of Russian businessmanAlexander Zhukov.[221][222] Their wedding was held in June 2024 at Murdoch's estate in California.[223] Murdoch was 93 and Zhukova 67 years old.[224] Through the marriage he became stepfather toDasha Zhukova, ex-wife ofRoman Abramovich.
Murdoch has six children, and is grandfather to thirteen grandchildren.[202]
Children
Murdoch has six children.[225] His eldest child,Prudence MacLeod, was appointed on 28 January 2011 to the board ofTimes Newspapers Ltd, part ofNews International, which publishesThe Times andThe Sunday Times.[226] Murdoch's elder sonLachlan, formerly the Deputy Chief Operating Officer at the News Corporation and publisher of theNew York Post, was Murdoch'sheir apparent before resigning from his executive posts at the global media company at the end of July 2005.[225] Lachlan's departure leftJames Murdoch, Chief Executive of the satellite television serviceBritish Sky Broadcasting since November 2003 as the only Murdoch son still directly involved with the company's operations, though Lachlan has agreed to remain on the News Corporation's board.[227]
After graduating fromVassar College[228] and marrying classmate Elkin Kwesi Pianim (the son of Ghanaian financial and political mogulKwame Pianim) in 1993,[228] Murdoch's daughterElisabeth and her husband purchased a pair of NBC-affiliate television stations in California,KSBW andKSBY, with a $35 million loan provided by her father. By quickly re-organising and re-selling them at a $12 million profit in 1995, Elisabeth emerged as an unexpected rival to her brothers for the eventual leadership of the publishing dynasty. But, after divorcing Pianim in 1998 and quarrelling publicly with her assigned mentorSam Chisholm at BSkyB, she struck out on her own as a television and film producer in London. She has since enjoyed independent success, in conjunction with her second husband,Matthew Freud, the great-grandson ofSigmund Freud, whom she met in 1997 and married in 2001.[228]
Until September 2023, it was not known how long Murdoch would remain as News Corporation's CEO. For a while the American cable television entrepreneurJohn Malone was the second-largest voting shareholder in News Corporation after Murdoch himself, potentially undermining the family's control. In 2007, the company announced that it would sell certain assets and give cash to Malone's company in exchange for its stock. In 2007, the company issued Murdoch's older children voting stock.[229]
Murdoch has two children with Wendi Deng: Grace (b. New York, November 2001)[35] and Chloe (b. New York, July 2003).[195][196] It was revealed in September 2011 thatTony Blair is Grace'sgodfather.[230] There is reported to be tension between Murdoch and his oldest children over the terms of a trust holding the family's 28.5% 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 of his first two marriages. Murdoch's voting privileges are not transferable 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. It is Murdoch's stated desire to have his children by Deng given a measure of control over the stock proportional to their financial interest in it. It does not appear that he has any strong legal grounds to contest the present arrangement, and both ex-wife Anna and their three children are said to be strongly resistant to any such change.[231]
In the arts and media
Film and television
In 1999, theTed Turner-ownedTBS channel aired an original sitcom,The Chimp Channel. This featured an all-simian cast and the role of an Australian TV veteran named Harry Waller. The character is described as "a self-made gazillionaire with business interests in all sorts of fields. He owns newspapers, hotel chains, sports franchises and genetic technologies, as well as everyone's favourite cable TV channel, The Chimp Channel". Waller is thought to be a parody of Murdoch, a long-time rival of Turner.[232]
In 2004, the movieOutfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism included many interviews accusing Fox News of pressuring reporters to report only one side of news stories, in order to influence viewers' political opinions.[233]
In 2012, the satirical telemovieHacks broadcast on the UK'sChannel 4, made obvious comparisons with Murdoch using the fictional character "Stanhope Feast", portrayed byMichael Kitchen, as well as other central figures in thephone hacking scandal.[234][235]
Murdoch and rival newspaper and publishing magnateRobert Maxwell are thinly fictionalised as "Keith Townsend" and "Richard Armstrong" inThe Fourth Estate (1996) by British novelist and former MPJeffrey Archer.[251]
In the novelDunbar (2017) byEdward St Aubyn the eponymous lead character is at least partly inspired by Murdoch.[252]
Young Rupert: The Making of the Murdoch Empire (2023), by Walter Marsh, has been praised for the high quality of its research. It focuses on Murdoch as a child and young man, in particular his early career atThe News in Adelaide and his relationship with the editor-in-chiefRohan Rivett.[253][254][255] Several commenters on the book remarked on Murdoch's embrace of socialism in his early years.[256][257]
Murdoch accepting theHudson Institute's Global Leadership Award (November 2015)
Forbes rankings
In 2014,Forbes estimated Rupert Murdoch's wealth at US$13.7 billion.[5]
In 2016,Forbes ranked "Rupert Murdoch & Family" as the 35th most powerful person in the world.[261]
According toForbes' 2017 real-time list of world's billionaires, Murdoch was the 34th richest person in the US and the 96th richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$13.1 billion as of February 2017.[update][262]
In 2019, the Murdoch family were ranked 52nd in theForbes' annual list of the world's billionaires.[263]
As per Forbes list of The Richest People In The World, dated 8 March 2024, Murdoch and family were ranked #100 with a net worth of $19.5 Billion.[263]
Other assessments and investigations
In August 2013, Terry Flew, Professor of Media and Communications atQueensland University of Technology, wrote an article for theConversation publication in which he investigated a claim by former Australian prime ministerKevin Rudd that Murdoch owned 70% of Australian newspapers in 2011. Flew's article showed that News Corp Australia owned 23% of the nation's newspapers in 2011, according to the Finkelstein Review of Media and Media Regulation, but, at the time of the article, the corporation's titles accounted for 59% of the sales of all daily newspapers, with weekly sales of 17.3 million copies.[264]
In connection with Murdoch's testimony to theLeveson Inquiry "into the ethics of the British press", editor ofNewsweek International,Tunku Varadarajan, referred to him as "the man whose name is synonymous with unethical newspapers".[265]
News Corp papers were accused of supporting the campaign of the Australian Liberal government and influencing public opinion during the2013 federal election. Following the announcement of the Liberal Party victory at the polls, Murdoch tweeted "Aust. election public sick of public sector workers and phonywelfare scroungers sucking life out of economy. Other nations to follow in time."[266]
In November 2015, former Australian prime ministerTony Abbott said that Murdoch "arguably has had more impact on the wider world than any other living Australian".[267]
In late 2015,The Wall Street Journal journalistJohn Carreyrou began a series of investigative articles onTheranos, the blood-testing start-up founded byElizabeth Holmes, that questioned its claim to be able to run a wide range of lab tests from a tiny sample of blood from afinger prick.[268][269][270] Holmes had turned to Murdoch, whose media empire includes Carreyrou's employer,The Wall Street Journal, to kill the story. Murdoch, who became the biggest investor in Theranos in 2015 as a result of his $125 million injection, refused the request from Holmes saying that "he trusted the paper's editors to handle the matter fairly."[271][272]
In November 2021, Murdoch accused, without providing evidence, Google and Facebook of stifling conservative viewpoints on its platforms, and called for "substantial reform" and openness in the digital ad supply chain.[273]
^Barron, James; Robertson, Campbell (19 May 2007)."Page Six, Staple of Gossip, Reports on Its Own Tale".The New York Times.eISSN1553-8095.ISSN0362-4331.OCLC1645522.Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved19 May 2007.The harshest criticism of Mr. Murdoch from within Dow Jones has been that he is willing to contort his coverage of the news to suit his business needs, in particular that he has blocked reporting unflattering to the government of China. He has invested heavily in satellite television there and wants to remain in Beijing's favor.
^abStack, Liam (3 April 2019)."6 Takeaways From The Times's Investigation Into Rupert Murdoch and His Family".The New York Times.Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved12 September 2020.Fox News has long exerted a gravitational pull on the Republican Party in the United States, where it most recently amplified the nativist revolt that has fueled the rise of the far right and the election of President Trump. Mr. Murdoch's newspaperThe Sun spent years demonizing the European Union to its readers in Britain, where it helped lead the Brexit campaign that persuaded a slim majority of voters in a 2016 referendum to endorse pulling out of the bloc. Political havoc has reigned in Britain ever since. And in Australia, where his hold over the media is most extensive, Mr. Murdoch's outlets pushed for the repeal of the country's carbon tax and helped topple a series of prime ministers whose agenda he disliked, including Malcolm Turnbull last year.
^Engledow, Sarah (December 2006 – February 2007)."Vintage Cassab".Magazine of Australian and International Portraiture. National Portrait Gallery, Australia.Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved24 July 2011.
^"Honours". Government of Australia.Archived from the original on 27 December 2018. Retrieved27 February 2010.AC AD84. For service to the media, particularly the newspaper publishing industry
^"[Murdoch] guaranteed that editors would have control of the political policy of their newspapers … that the editors would not be subject to instruction from the proprietor on selection and balance of news and opinion … that instructions to journalists would be given only by their editor".Harold EvansGood Times, Bad Times. 1984
^Timms, Dominic (12 October 2004)."Fortress Wapping: A history".The Guardian. London.Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved13 December 2016.
^Rt. Hon. Tony Benn cited inHansard, 8 May 1986. 'The mounted police advanced out of the plant exactly as the tactical options manual says that they should. They ran into the crowd. They were covered by riot police who did several things. First, they ran indiscriminately into the crowd and battered people who had had nothing whatsoever to do with any stones that might have been thrown ... They surrounded the bus that was acting as an ambulance. One man had a heart attack and I appealed over the loudspeaker for the police to withdraw to allow an ambulance to come. None was allowed for 30 minutes. When the man was put on a trestle a police horse jostled it and the man nearly fell off as he was carried out to the ambulance. The police surrounded the park where the meeting took place. They surrounded the area so that people could not escape.'
^Thal Larsen, Peter; Grice, Andrew (10 April 1999)."Murdoch's Man Utd bid blocked".The Independent. London.Archived from the original on 19 August 2017. Retrieved22 August 2017.
^"Submission to the ITC on competition issues arising from the award of digital terrestrial television multiplex licences". UK: OFTEL. 16 September 2016. Archived from the original on 4 July 2011. Retrieved10 July 2011.The OFT has already found BSkyB to be dominant in the wholesale market for premium programming content (particularly certain sports and movie rights). BSkyB also currently controls the satellite network for direct to the home (DTH) pay television in the UK. Given its control of premium programming content, it also controls a vital input into the cable companies transmission and programme activities{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"Transcript of Morning Hearing 25 April 2012". The Leveson Inquiry. p. 33. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved26 April 2012. Robert Jay QC: This is 4 March 1983. You apparently said this: "I give instruction to my editors all round the world, why shouldn't I in London?" Do you remember saying that? Murdoch: No, I don't.
^Litterick, David (1 August 2007)."Report of acquisition".The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived fromthe original on 12 June 2008. Retrieved25 April 2010.
^McKnight, David (September 2010). "Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation: A media institution with a mission".Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television.30 (3):303–16.doi:10.1080/01439685.2010.505021.S2CID143050487.
^Coleridge, Nicholas (1993).Paper tigers: the latest, greatest newspaper tycoons and how they won the world. London: Heinemann. p. 487.ISBN978-0434140596.Asked if there is any truth to recent press describing his newfound piety, Murdoch replies: 'No. They say I'm a born again Christian and a Catholic convert and so on. I'm certainly a practising Christian, I go to church quite a bit but not every Sunday and I tend to go to Catholic church—because my wife is Catholic, I have not formally converted. And I get increasingly disenchanted with the C of E or Episcopalians as they call themselves here. But no, I'm not intensely religious as I'm sometimes described.' Interviewed in 1992
^Murdoch, Rupert (7 September 2013)."7 September".Rupert Murdoch on Twitter. Twitter.Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved28 July 2014.
Chenoweth, Neil (2001).Rupert Murdoch, the untold story of the world's greatest media wizard. New York: Random House.
Dover, Bruce.Rupert's Adventures in China: How Murdoch Lost A Fortune And Found A Wife (Mainstream Publishing).
Ellison, Sarah.War at the Wall Street Journal: Inside the Struggle To Control an American Business Empire, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.ISBN978-0-547-15243-1 (Also published as:War at The Wall Street Journal: How Rupert Murdoch Bought an American Icon, Melbourne, Text Publishing, 2010.)
Evans, Harold.Good Times, Bad Times, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1983
McKnight, David. "Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation: A Media Institution with A Mission",Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Sept 2010, Vol. 30 Issue 3, pp 303–316
