- Born
- Birth nameRupert Keith Murdoch
- Height5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
- Rupert Murdoch is Executive Chairman of News Corp and Co-Chairman of Fox Corporation, two of the most recognized and influential media companies in the world.
Mr. Murdoch has been Executive Chairman of News Corp since 2013, when News Corporation separated into two distinct, publicly traded companies, News Corp and 21st Century Fox. He was Executive Chairman of 21st Century Fox from 2015 until the closing of the merger of 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company in March 2019.
In 1954, Mr. Murdoch took control of News Limited, an Australian-based public corporation whose only key asset at the time was a majority interest in the number-two daily newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia. Since News Corporation's inception in 1979, Mr. Murdoch served as CEO and Chairman, and oversaw the expansion and development of the Company into an international media business.
In 1960, News Corporation acquired the Daily Mirror in Sydney and, in 1964, launched a national newspaper, The Australian. In 1969, the Company ventured into the United Kingdom and later purchased The Sun newspaper.
In the 1980s, News Corporation purchased the UK newspapers The Times and The Sunday Times, and HarperCollins Publishers, today one of the world's largest and most digitally advanced book publishers. In 2007, the Company acquired Dow Jones & Company, including The Wall Street Journal.
News Corporation purchased Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation in 1985 and the studio subsequently produced many award-winning films, including the two top-grossing films of all time: Titanic and Avatar. The following year, the Company created the Fox Television Stations group, which was the foundation for the launch of FOX Broadcasting Company and FOX Sports.
FOX was the leading television network in the U.S. for a record eight consecutive years. In October 1996, News Corporation launched the FOX News Channel - the undisputed leader in 24-hour news service. The Company also successfully established some of the U.S. and the world's most popular cable networks, including Fox Sports Network, FX and the National Geographic Channels.
In 2012, News Corporation further expanded its footprint in Australia through its acquisition of media investment company Consolidated Media Holdings. News Corp Australia is now a majority shareholder of Foxtel/FOX SPORTS Australia, the largest pay-TV provider in Australia, and owns and operates Sky News Australia, a 24-hour multi-channel, multi-platform news service.
Also in Australia, News Corp owns the majority interest in digital real estate company REA Group, operator of the country's leading property websites, and of iProperty Group, which owns a number of leading property portals in Asia. In 2014, News Corp completed acquisition of Move, Inc., operator of realtor.com®, a leading provider of online real estate services.
Mr. Murdoch has been awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia (A.C.) for services to the media and to newspaper publishing in particular. He and his family have been closely involved with, and made generous contributions to, various educational, cultural, and medical charitable organizations throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and Israel.- IMDb Mini Biography By: News Corp Official Site Bio
- SpousesJerry Hall(March 4, 2016 - present) (divorced)Wendi Murdoch(June 25, 1999 - November 20, 2013) (divorced, 2 children)Anna Murdoch(April 28, 1967 - June 8, 1999) (divorced, 3 children)Patricia Booker(March 1, 1956 - 1967) (divorced, 1 child)
- Children
- Parents
- Played himself in an episode of The Simpsons (1989), introducing himself as "Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire tyrant", and was lampooned in several other episodes of the show.
- Having announced his January 2016 engagement to Jerry Hall four months he and Jerry confirmed the rumors of their relationship, he married his fiancée at the Spencer House on March 4, 2016.
- On the prospect of Murdoch acquiring the Chicago Sun-Times, where daily columnist Mike Royko shifted from the Chicago Daily News following its demise, Royko famously said "no self-respecting fish" would allow itself to be wrapped in a Murdoch paper. With Murdoch's acquisition of The Sun-Times, Royko shifted employers again and wrote his column for the Chicago Tribune.
- Endorsed Donald Trump for the 2016 Presidential election.
- Born to Australian newspaper publisher Sir Keith Murdoch (1886-1952) and his wife Elisabeth Greene (born in 1909), he has three older sisters.
- Our underlying philosophy is that all media are one.
- I believe in competition. The way to control the market is to have competition. If someone goes bust, too bad.
- Much of what passes for quality on British television really is no more than a reflection of the values of the narrow elite which controls it and which has always thought that its tastes are synonymous with quality.
- The socially mobile are portrayed as uncaring; businessmen as crooks; money-making is to be despised. As a result, in the values it exudes, British television has been an integral part of the British disease, hostile to the sort of culture needed to cure that disease. The fact that those who control British TV have always worked in a non-market environment, protected by public subsidy and state privilege, is a major reason why they are innately unsympathetic to markets and competition.
- As British television is transformed by this new, multi-channel diversity, I believe the consequent new freedoms will bring forth a television system of choice and quality, the like of which has never been seen. (Speaking in 1989, the year he launched Sky Television in the UK)
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