Rupert Murdoch's Biography
Rupert Murdoch Facts
Rupert Murdoch was born on March 11, 1931, in Melbourne, Australia.
His father Sir Keith Murdoch was chief executive of the Melbourne Herald newspaper group.
Rupert Murdoch acquired the high circulation UK newspapers News of the World and The Sun in 1969.
In the 1970s he bought The New York Post, and several other major US media purchases followed, which included 20th Century Fox Film Studios. Murdoch's News Corporation also purchased Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Additionally, he launched the Fox TV network.
In 1981 Murdoch's UK subsidiary News International bought The Times and The Sunday Times. In the mid-1980s, during the Thatcher era, Rupert Murdoch famously took on the powerful print unions in what became known as the Wapping dispute.
In 1989 he bought the book publishers Collins and set up Sky TV.
Rupert Murdoch was married to Patricia Booker, and then Anna Torv and then in 1999 he married Wendi Deng, a Chinese businesswoman with a Yale MBA. However they broke up in 2013. His children include James Murdoch (Chairman, News International) and Elizabeth Murdoch (Chief Executive of independent TV production company Shine and former wife of Matthew Freud).
Adam Curtis at the BBC has a notable blog post about Rupert Murdoch with a collection of archive footage.
In 2011, the News of the World was shut down in a scandal over the alleged hacking of phones, which threatened to engulf Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
In January 2016, Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall announced their engagement in The Times. They married later that year.
However, they broke up and in March 2024, the BBC reported that the 92-year-old Murdoch was getting engaged for the sixth time. This time to Elena Zhukova; his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith having been called off in the previous year.
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His father Sir Keith Murdoch was chief executive of the Melbourne Herald newspaper group.
Rupert Murdoch acquired the high circulation UK newspapers News of the World and The Sun in 1969.
In the 1970s he bought The New York Post, and several other major US media purchases followed, which included 20th Century Fox Film Studios. Murdoch's News Corporation also purchased Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Additionally, he launched the Fox TV network.
In 1981 Murdoch's UK subsidiary News International bought The Times and The Sunday Times. In the mid-1980s, during the Thatcher era, Rupert Murdoch famously took on the powerful print unions in what became known as the Wapping dispute.
In 1989 he bought the book publishers Collins and set up Sky TV.
Rupert Murdoch was married to Patricia Booker, and then Anna Torv and then in 1999 he married Wendi Deng, a Chinese businesswoman with a Yale MBA. However they broke up in 2013. His children include James Murdoch (Chairman, News International) and Elizabeth Murdoch (Chief Executive of independent TV production company Shine and former wife of Matthew Freud).
Adam Curtis at the BBC has a notable blog post about Rupert Murdoch with a collection of archive footage.
In 2011, the News of the World was shut down in a scandal over the alleged hacking of phones, which threatened to engulf Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
In January 2016, Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall announced their engagement in The Times. They married later that year.
However, they broke up and in March 2024, the BBC reported that the 92-year-old Murdoch was getting engaged for the sixth time. This time to Elena Zhukova; his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith having been called off in the previous year.
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