Rupert Murdoch facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rupert Murdoch
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Murdoch in 2012
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| Born |
Keith Rupert Murdoch
11 March 1931 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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| Citizenship |
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| Education | Worcester College, Oxford (BA) |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 1952−2023 |
| Title |
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| Board member of |
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| Spouse(s) |
Patricia Booker
(m. 1956; div. 1967)Anna Maria Torv
(m. 1967; div. 1999)Wendi Deng
(m. 1999; div. 2013)Elena Zhukova
(m. 2024) |
| Children | 6, including Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan, and James |
| Parent(s) |
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| Family | Murdoch family |
Keith Rupert Murdoch (born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-American retired businessman who owns many newspapers and TV channels. He built a huge media company called News Corp. This company owns hundreds of news outlets around the world.
Some of his well-known media outlets include The Sun and The Times in the UK. In Australia, he owns The Daily Telegraph and The Australian. In the United States, he owns The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. He also owns the book publisher HarperCollins. His company also owns TV channels like Sky News Australia and Fox News.
Murdoch was also involved with Sky Group (until 2018) and 21st Century Fox (until 2019). He is one of the richest people in the United States. Because he owns so many media companies, he has a lot of influence over news and politics. In September 2023, Murdoch announced he was stepping down from leading Fox Corp. and News Corp.
After his father, Keith Murdoch, passed away in 1952, Rupert Murdoch took over a small newspaper in Adelaide, Australia, called The News. In the 1950s and 1960s, he bought more newspapers in Australia and New Zealand. Then, in 1969, he expanded into the United Kingdom, buying News of the World and The Sun.
In 1974, Murdoch moved to New York City to grow his business in America. In 1981, he bought The Times in the UK. In 1985, he became an American citizen. This was important because only American citizens could own TV networks in the U.S. In 1986, he updated his printing operations in London, which led to some disagreements with workers.
His company, News Corporation, bought Twentieth Century Fox (a movie studio) in 1985, HarperCollins (a book publisher) in 1989, and The Wall Street Journal (a major newspaper) in 2007. He also started the British TV company BSkyB in 1990. By 2000, News Corporation owned over 800 companies in more than 50 countries.
Many of Murdoch's newspapers and TV channels have been said to have a certain political viewpoint. Some people believe his influence has played a role in big political events in the UK, US, and Australia.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Keith Rupert Murdoch was born on 11 March 1931 in Melbourne, Australia. He was the second of four children. His father, Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch, was a journalist and later owned several newspapers. His mother, Dame Elisabeth Joy, was known for her charity work.
Murdoch went to Geelong Grammar School in Australia. He helped edit the school's journals. Later, he studied in England at Worcester College, Oxford. He studied philosophy, politics, and economics.
After his father died in 1952, Murdoch started working as a sub-editor for a newspaper called the Daily Express for two years. His father had prepared him to take over the family business.
Building a Media Empire
Starting in Australia and New Zealand
When his father passed away, Rupert Murdoch was 21 years old. He returned from Oxford to take over the family business, which was called News Limited. He made the Adelaide newspaper, The News, very successful.
He then started buying other newspapers. In 1956, he bought the Sunday Times in Perth. Over the next few years, he bought many local newspapers in Australia. He also bought the Sydney newspaper The Daily Mirror in 1960. Murdoch became known for making his newspapers more exciting. He added more sports and stories about scandals, and used big, eye-catching headlines.
Murdoch's first step outside Australia was buying a part of a New Zealand newspaper called The Dominion. In 1964, he launched The Australian, which was Australia's first national daily newspaper. In 1972, he bought The Daily Telegraph in Sydney. In 1984, he was recognized for his work in publishing.
Expanding in the United Kingdom
In 1968, Murdoch entered the British newspaper market. He bought the popular News of the World. In 1969, he bought The Sun, which was struggling. Murdoch changed The Sun into a smaller, more popular newspaper format. He also saved money by using the same printing presses for both newspapers.
In 1981, Murdoch bought The Times and Sunday Times. These were more serious newspapers. He was able to buy them because the previous owner was tired of losing money due to worker strikes. Murdoch was known for turning struggling papers around.
In 1986, Murdoch brought new electronic printing methods to his newspapers in Australia, Britain, and the United States. This meant fewer people were needed for printing. In England, this caused a big and sometimes difficult dispute with the printing unions. This event, known as the Wapping dispute, involved many workers losing their jobs.
Murdoch's British satellite TV network, Sky Television, lost a lot of money when it first started. But he combined it with another satellite company in 1990, creating BSkyB. This company became very successful in British pay-TV.
Growth in the United States
Murdoch first bought a company in the United States in 1973, the San Antonio Express-News. In 1974, he moved to New York City to expand his business there. He started a newspaper called Star and bought the New York Post in 1976.
In 1985, Murdoch became an American citizen. This was necessary for him to own American TV stations. He bought several TV stations that became the start of the Fox Broadcasting Company. This company later became very successful with shows like The Simpsons.
In 1993, Murdoch's Fox Network started showing exclusive coverage of the National Football Conference (NFC) football games. In 1996, Murdoch launched the Fox News Channel, a 24-hour news station. This channel became very popular. In 2003, Murdoch bought a large part of DirecTV, a big American satellite TV system. His Fox movie studio also had huge hits with movies like Titanic and Avatar.
In 2004, Murdoch moved the main office of News Corporation from Australia to the United States. This made it easier for American investors to buy shares in his company. In 2005, News Corporation bought Myspace, a popular social networking website at the time.
In 2007, Murdoch bought Dow Jones & Company, which owns The Wall Street Journal. In 2015, Murdoch stepped down as CEO of 21st Century Fox. This company was later bought by Disney in 2019. Some TV broadcasting parts were separated into the Fox Corporation, which Murdoch still owned. He was also the acting CEO of Fox News from 2016 to 2019.
In September 2023, Rupert Murdoch retired from leading his businesses. He handed over the leadership to his oldest son, Lachlan.
Personal Life
Homes and Family
Murdoch has owned several large homes. In 2003, he bought a large house called "Rosehearty" in New York. In 2013, he purchased a vineyard and winery in California. In 2019, he and his wife at the time, Jerry Hall, bought an 18th-century estate in England.
Marriages and Children
Murdoch has been married five times and has six children.
- In 1956, he married Patricia Booker. They had one child, Prudence, born in 1958. They divorced in 1967.
- In 1967, he married Anna Torv, a journalist. They had three children: Elisabeth (born 1968), Lachlan Murdoch (born 1971), and James Murdoch (born 1972). They divorced in 1999.
- In 1999, he married Wendi Deng. They had two daughters: Grace (born 2001) and Chloe (born 2003). They divorced in 2013.
- In 2016, he married former model Jerry Hall. They divorced in 2022.
- In June 2024, he married Elena Zhukova, a retired molecular biologist.
Murdoch's children have also been involved in his businesses. His oldest child, Prudence, joined the board of Times Newspapers Ltd. His elder son, Lachlan, was once a high-ranking executive at News Corporation and now leads the businesses. James Murdoch was also a chief executive of a satellite television service. Elisabeth Murdoch started her own successful television and film production company.
In Arts and Media
Film and Television
Rupert Murdoch has been a source of inspiration for characters in films and TV shows.
- In 2004, a movie called Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism was made.
- The 2013 film Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues features an Australian character who owns a cable news channel, inspired by Murdoch.
- Murdoch was part of the inspiration for Logan Roy, a main character in the TV show Succession (2018–2023).
Murdoch has also been played by actors in various productions:
- Barry Humphries in Selling Hitler (1991)
- Hugh Laurie in A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1990s)
- Ben Mendelsohn in Black and White (2002)
- Himself on The Simpsons
- Patrick Brammall in Power Games: The Packer–Murdoch War (2013)
- Ben Miller in Tracey Ullman's Show (2016) and Tracey Breaks the News (2017)
- Simon McBurney in The Loudest Voice (2019)
- Malcolm McDowell in Bombshell (2019)
Books
Murdoch has also been featured in books:
- He is a thinly fictionalized character named "Keith Townsend" in the novel The Fourth Estate (1996) by Jeffrey Archer.
- The main character in the novel Dunbar (2017) by Edward St Aubyn is partly inspired by Murdoch.
- Young Rupert: The Making of the Murdoch Empire (2023) by Walter Marsh focuses on his early life and career.
Music
- The band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard wrote a song called "Evilest Man" about Murdoch for their 2022 album Omnium Gatherum.
Influence and Wealth
Forbes magazine often lists Rupert Murdoch and his family among the world's wealthiest and most powerful people. In 2024, Forbes estimated his family's net worth at $19.5 billion.
In 2013, it was reported that News Corp Australia's newspapers accounted for 59% of all daily newspaper sales in Australia. This shows how much influence his company has in the media world.
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott once said that Murdoch "arguably has had more impact on the wider world than any other living Australian."
Images for kids
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Murdoch in 2012
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Journalist Sir Keith Murdoch (1885–1952), Rupert Murdoch's father
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Murdoch – World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, in 2007
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Murdoch (seated center), Roy Cohn, Reagan, Oval Office, 1983
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News Corporation logo
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Murdoch (right) with President John F. Kennedy and Zell Rabin in the Oval Office in 1961
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President Ronald Reagan during a meeting with Murdoch in the Oval Office in 1983
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Murdoch with his third wife, Wendi, in 2011
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Jerry Hall, Murdoch's fourth wife, whom he married in March 2016, photographed in 2009
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Murdoch accepting the Hudson Institute's Global Leadership Award (November 2015)
See also
In Spanish: Rupert Murdoch para niños
