Rupert Murdoch and His Dynasty – Some Facts
Ranked as being the 35th most powerful person in the world and the 34th richest in the US and 96th richest in the world, Rupert Murdoch is currently worth more than $12 Billion. Born on 11 March 1931 he has six children. His first child – Prudence, was born in August 1958 from his marriage to an air stewardess in Adelaide. First daughter Prudence had three children by her second husband – James, Angus, and Clementine – all were schooled and live in Syndey. With his second wife, Murdoch had three children – Elisabeth, James, and Lachlan. Elisabeth, now aged 52, now married three times, firstly married a man of Ghanaian descent, and had two daughters. In February 2013, BBC’s Woman’s Hour declared her the 5th most powerful woman in the UK. Her second marriage was to Matthew Freud – son of former MP Sir Clement Freud and they had two children. Her third marriage is to artist Keith Tyson.
The other children from Murdoch’s second marriage – Lachlan and James have had on/off dealings with the Murdoch empire though it is thought at one time that James resigned for his own reasons. Murdoch himself graduated from Oxford in 1952 and his father Sir Keith was also a journalist and publisher from which Rupert inherited papers especially in Australia. Though Rupert’s empire has had several umbrella names, News Corporation owns more than 170 papers worldwide.
The famous story behind The News of The World includes the fact it was bought in 1968 swiftly followed by The Sun – formerly known as The Daily Herald. In the 19980’s Rupert bought The New York Post and New York Magazine. In 1987 The Publishers Harper Collins was bought for $293 M and is still owned by Rupert’s businesses. The phone hacking scandal of a deceased teenager led to the closure and renaming of The News of The World which is now known as The Sun on Sunday.
Rupert Murdoch’s marriages embrace Patricia Booker – his first wife, and mother to Prudence, and his second wife Anna Mann – who bore children Elisabeth, James and Lachlan, then Wendi Deng who had two daughters, Grace, and Chloe. His current wife is former supermodel Jerry Hall who has four children by her former husband, Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones. Rupert and Jerry were married in 2016 at the known Fleet Street “Press Church” St Brides.
In 2015, Rupert acquired film company 21st Century Fox and handed 2 leadership roles to sons, James and Lachlan, keeping the company “in the family.” Rupert and his family have traded many times in luxury yachts and luxury property in the US doing deals of vast amounts of millions over the years.
Rupert Murdoch originally supported New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run for President against Donald Trump in 2016. However, he later became friends with Trump who appears in Press Pictures with him.
In 2017, Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox sold the Disney Section of it for $71.1 Billion. Lachlan and James Murdoch were both on board with the project as well as Peter Ride – president. As for Sky News and its history, that’s another story for another day…….
Penny Nair Price