Rupert Murdoch: Who is the Fox and News Corp chairman? His net worth

Murdoch, 92, wrote in a memo to employees on Thursday, September 21: “For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change,”

“But the time is right for me to take on different roles, knowing that we have truly talented teams.”

Who is Rupert Murdoch?

Murdoch, 92, wrote in a memo to employees on Thursday, September 21: “For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change,” ( Victoria Jones) (Image: Victoria Jones/PA)

Keith Rupert Murdoch got into the newspaper business in the 1950s.

Following the death of his father in 1952, Murdoch took over the running of The News, a small Adelaide newspaper that his father owned.

Over the next two decades,  Murdoch acquired a number of newspapers in Australia and New Zealand before expanding into the United Kingdom in 1969, taking over the News of the World, followed closely by The Sun.

In 1981, Murdoch bought The Times which was his first British broadsheet.

Murdoch became a naturalized US citizen in 1985 when he gave up his Australian citizenship this was to satisfy the legal requirement for US television network ownership.

In 1985, he became a major Hollywood executive when he purchased Twentieth Century Fox.

A year later, Murdoch took on the world of TV after he purchased several US television stations and created Fox Broadcasting.

In 1996, Fox News was launched and eventually became the No. 1 cable news channel in America and a bastion for Republican ideals and the political right in the US.

In July 2011, the media titan faced allegations that his companies, which included News of the World (owned by News Corporation) had been regularly hacking the phones of celebrities, royalty, and public citizens.

Murdoch faced police and government investigations into bribery and corruption by the British government and FBI investigations in the US.

In July 2012, Murdoch resigned as a director of News International and he sold most of Fox's movie studio, FX, and National Geographic Networks and its stake in Star India to Disney for $71.3 billion in March 2019.

What is Rupert Murdoch's net worth?

Rupert Murdoch's net worth is $17.4 billion (£14 billion), the Daily Express has reported.

Murdoch's net worth would make him the 99th richest person in the world in 2023, according to Forbes.

In 2022, Murdoch was in the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest Americans in spot number 35.

Who are Rupert Murdoch's children?

Rupert Murdoch has been married four times and has six children.

He shared his eldest child Prudence with his first wife Patricia Booker.

Murdoch later had three children with his second wife Anna Torv called Elisabeth, Lachlan and James.

Meanwhile, he shares Chloe and Grace with his third wife, Wendi Deng.

Following the divorce of his fourth wife, Jerry Hall in August 2022, he announced his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith in March 2023  but the pair called off the engagement just a few weeks later.

Who is Lachlan Murdoch?

Lachlan Murdoch, his son, will become sole chairman of both companies following the companies’ annual meeting in mid-November.

The Australian-American media proprietor, who owns The Sun and The Times in the UK, called his son “a passionate, principled leader.”

Mr Murdoch will be appointed chairman emeritus of each company.

Lachlan Murdoch, 52, said: “On behalf of the Fox and News Corp boards of directors, leadership teams, and all the shareholders who have benefited from his hard work, I congratulate my father on his remarkable 70-year career.

“We thank him for his vision, his pioneering spirit, his steadfast determination, and the enduring legacy he leaves to the companies he founded and countless people he has impacted.

“We are grateful that he will serve as chairman emeritus and know he will continue to provide valued counsel to both companies.”

Rupert Murdoch brought Lachlan in 1989, then 18 years old, to Australia while on business, to have Lachlan trained for three months at the Daily Mirror.

At the age of 22, he was appointed general manager of Queensland Newspapers and a year later, he became publisher of Australia's first national paper, The Australian.

Lachlan married British-born Australian model and actress Sarah O'Hare in 1999.

In July 2005, 33-year-old Murdoch abruptly resigned as an executive at News Corp in an explained departure which suggested that he would not one day become Murdoch's successor.

But in March 2014, Murdoch was appointed as non-executive co-chairman of News Corp. and 21st Century Fox Inc. in a move that was seen as succession planning for the media empire.[39]

Rupert Murdoch stood aside as chairman and a Director of Ten Network Holdings and in June 2015, Lachlan was named as Executive Chairman of 21st Century Fox.

After 21st Century Fox was acquired by Disney in March 2019, he was also named as the chairman and CEO of the Fox Corporation.

The couple have two sons, Kalan Alexander and a daughter, Aerin Elisabeth together.