Rupert Murdoch

Billionaire Australian, American publishing magnate. He is a major shareholder and managing director of News Corporation, one of the world’s largest and most influential media corporations, and owner of some of Australia, America and Britain’s most popular media and news publicatio
ns.

Rupert Murdoch was born in Melbourne, Australia on March 11, 1931. In 1937 he moved to Britain where he was raised and eventually attended Oxford University.

His father Sir Keith Murdoch became Australia's most influential newspaper executive, directing the Melbourne-based Herald and Weekly Times Ltd. After his father’s death in 1952, Rupert returned to Australia to take over the running of his business and to inherit a considerable fortune but was left with a relatively modest inheritance.

During the next few years he established himself in the media arena while expanding his holdings acquiring newspapers including the Sydney afternoon paper, The Daily Mirror and also a small Sydney based recording company called Festival Records. In 1964 Murdoch started The Australian, Australia's first national daily newspaper, which renewed Murdoch’s name as a quality newspaper publisher. 

Murdoch moved to Britain in the mid 1960s and soon turned himself into a major media force after acquiring the News of the World, The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times. At this time Murdoch was also able to acquire leading newspapers and magazines in London and New York, as well as many other media holdings.

In 1972 he acquired the Sydney Daily Telegraph making him one of the big three Australian newspaper proprietors. In 1987 he bought The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd in Australia, the very company his father once managed. By 1991 News Corporation had amassed huge debts which resulted in Murdoch selling many of his American magazines. 

In 1995 News Corporation with the backing of Telstra launched the Foxtel pay TV network in Australia, and then a year later Foxtel launched the Fox News Channel, a 24 hour news channel which reflected Murdoch's conservative views. Fox News has consistently taken ratings from CNN and is now considered the most watched cable news channel. 

In 1999 Murdoch extended his music interests in Australia by acquiring Mushroom Records which he merged with his Festival Records company as Festival Mushroom Records (FMR). In recent years Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan Murdoch has started to take over management of News Corporation and will eventually take over his father’s role. 

Murdoch’s personal life has suffered 2 failed marriages with his first marriage ending after only a few years. His second marriage was to journalist Anna Murdoch one of his employee’s to whom he had 3 children. However they were divorced in 1998 after Murdoch had an affair with another employee, Wendi Deng who was 40 years his junior, they married soon afterwards. Rupert Murdoch’s net worth is estimated at 6.9 billion.
                                                                                                           Rupert Murdoch Biography (Media Mogul)




Former Vice President of Business Affairs at News Corporation’s Asian satellite television operation. Married to Rupert Murdoch, one of the most powerful media owners in the world. 

Wendi Deng was born 1969 in china and has 2 sisters and one brother. Deng’s father was president of a Chinese factory with her family being relatively wealthy compared to most Chines
e residents at the time. After schooling Deng attended Medical College and in 1987 at age 18, she met Jake Cherry a former UNICEF executive, and his wife, who started teaching Deng English. In 1988 Mr. and Mrs Cherry sponsored a student visa for Deng and she moved to America to live with the Cherry’s and to study at the California State University.

In 1990 Jake Cherry left his wife to marry Deng after his wife found photos her husband had taken of Deng in a hotel room. Five months through their marriage, Deng started seeing another man, Cherry and Deng then divorced after two years and seven months of marriage. Wendi Deng went on to apply and was accepted by Yale University where she pursued her Master of business administration degree.

After receiving her degree in 1996, Wendi Deng moved to Hong Kong. On the flight over she met Bruce Churchill from Star TV and obtained a position as an intern through him. In 1998 Deng met Rupert Murdoch the managing director of Star TV's parent company News Corporation which led to Deng and Murdoch having an affair despite Deng being almost 40 years younger. In 1999 Murdoch divorced his wife of 31 years and married Deng 17 days later. Deng and Rupert Murdoch have since had 2 children.
                                                                                                                            Wendy Deng Biography (Wife of Rupert Murdoch)