rupert murdoch net worth

The property, Beaverhead Ranch, spans more than 50 miles north to south across two counties. Two dozen homes on the property house a number of permanent ranch employees. The Murdoch family owns at least three other mega-properties—including another ranch—in the U.S. and Australia. In April 2023, Fox agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion was reportedly expected to call Murdoch to publicly testify had the case gone to trial. One year later, he rupert murdoch net worth added to his New York real estate holdings and purchased a 6,850-square-foot quadruplex penthouse in the One Madison Building.

Tasked with taking over the family business, Murdoch then started managing «The News,» an Adelaide newspaper that his father had set up. He succeeded in turning the publication into a successful paper in Australia and subsequently went about acquiring other newspapers across the nation. Rupert Murdoch is an Australian-born media mogul who has a net worth of $19 billion.

Disney Acquisition

“I will be watching our broadcasts with a critical eye, reading our newspapers and websites and books with much interest, and reaching out to you with thoughts, ideas and advice,” Murdoch wrote. In February 2018, a Wired cover story revealed details of an ongoing feud between Murdoch and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The feud reportedly dated back to at least 2007, with accusations that Murdoch’s News Corp. had tried to ignite a scandal involving the presence of sexual predators on Facebook.

Later, in a 2016 meeting, Murdoch took Zuckerberg to task for changing Facebook’s news feed algorithm, giving the social platform the power to dramatically affect traffic for other sites. News Corp. reportedly threatened to retaliate via lobbying efforts and by launching an anti-Facebook campaign through its many outlets. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Murdoch acquired news outlets around the globe at a dizzying pace. In the United States, he bought the Chicago Sun-Times, the Village Voice, and New York magazine. In England, he acquired the eminently respectable Times and Sunday Times of London.

  1. Notable assets included «The Times» and «The Sun» in the UK, «The Wall Street Journal» and «New York Post» in the US, and Fox News.
  2. In addition to the main house, there is also a two-bedroom guesthouse and a 4,400-square-foot office space.
  3. Rupert has four children, many of whom have gone on to have successful careers within Murdoch’s various business enterprises.
  4. In 1973, he acquired the «San Antonio Express-News,» his first purchase of a US-based paper.

While discussions were said to have ended by November 2017, they reportedly renewed within a few weeks, with Fox considering offers for its movie and cable networks and international divisions. In mid-December, terms of an agreement were reached in which Disney would purchase most of 21st Century Fox in an all-stock transaction valued at around $52.4 billion. Murdoch—who retained control of Fox News, the Fox broadcast network, and the FS1 sports cable channel—said he would spin those assets into a newly listed company. Murdoch has drawn wide criticism for monopolizing control over international media outlets as well as for his conservative political views, which are often reflected in the reporting of Murdoch-controlled outlets such as Fox News. In the 2010 U.S. midterm elections, News Corp donated $1 million each to the Republican Governors Association and the U.S. Critics argued that the owner of major news sources covering the election shouldn’t contribute directly to the political campaigns involved.

Children

rupert murdoch net worth

The media mogul has long been the chair of News Corp and Fox Corporation., which are both listed in New York. The former has newspaper subsidiaries including The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, The Times of London, and The Sun, as well as titles in Australia. Rupert Murdoch is a renowned media executive who served as the co-chairman of Fox Corporation, and the executive chairman of News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal, HarperCollins, and the New York Post. At age 92, Murdoch announced his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith in March 2023. Within two weeks, however, Vanity Fair reported that Murdoch and Smith had called off the engagement. Murdoch vowed he would continue to be an active participant in both companies and their various brands.

In addition to the main house, there is also a two-bedroom guesthouse and a 4,400-square-foot office space. The vineyard, known as Moraga Vineyards, is actually a working vineyard, and the previous owners used the office space as the winery sales office. In June 2022, it was revealed that Rupert and Jerry Hall were getting a divorce. At this point, Rupert had a 17% stake in Fox, and when the dust settled, he was left with about $12 billion in Disney stock. An additional $10 billion from the sale was distributed to Rupert’s six kids. Murdoch sold all of the entertainment assets within Fox Corp. in 2019, including 21st Century Fox, for $71 billion.

Tabloid

A newspaper dominated by dramatic headlines, vivid photographs, and sensational stories focused largely on scandal and controversy. After the death of his father, Sir Keith Murdoch, in 1952, Rupert Murdoch inherited News Corp Australia, a publisher of several popular newspapers in that country and founded in 1923 by James Edward Davidson. As of September 2024, Rupert Murdoch has an estimated personal net worth of $10.4 billion, according to Bloomberg. Within days of the settlement, it was announced that Fox parted ways with its top-rated TV personality Tucker Carlson—reportedly at Murdoch’s request. In 2013, he splurged $28.8 million on a 16-acre vineyard estate in Bel-Air, Los Angeles. The estate features a 7,500-square-foot main house with three bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms.

My outlook, energy, self-assurance and sense of social purpose were fashioned in the slightly mad meritocracy that is the newsroom, where you start each day with a blank canvas and relentlessly strive to capture as much original news as possible. Murdoch did the same at The Wall Street Journal newsroom in 2007 after winning control of Dow Jones. Fans were quick to point out a scene from the second episode of season four featured the Murdoch-esque Logan Roy addressing the ATN newsroom standing on boxes of printing paper. However, Vanity Fair reported that the engagement with Smith was called off two weeks later.

In 2021, Murdoch purchased Beaverhead Ranch, a 500-square-mile cattle ranch in Montana, from Koch Industries. While still awaiting approval of his massive deal with Disney, Murdoch sought to increase 21st Century Fox’s stake in the U.K.-based Sky News. However, that transaction faced a roadblock from politicians and regulators over concerns about 21st Century Fox’s monopoly on the British news market, despite the company’s insistence that Sky News would retain editorial independence. In July 2016, Roger Ailes, chairman and CEO of Fox News and the Fox Television Stations Group, resigned due to a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Fox television host Gretchen Carlson.

Political activities in the United States

«We have certainly had some good times, but I have much to do…My New York lawyer will be contacting yours immediately.» Murdoch bought the Fox film studios and a group of local TV stations that would evolve into the Fox network. Murdoch will become chairman emeritus of both companies, he wrote in a memo to employees. Murdoch was named an honoree of the Television Hall of Fame in 2014 and received a lifetime achievement award in 2021 from the Australia Day Foundation for his contribution to the media industry. In 2011, investigations determined that News of the World employees had systemically hacked into the phones of politicians, celebrities, and others in the news, including murder victims and their relatives, to produce exclusive features. In 2012, News Corp acquired Consolidated Media Holdings in Australia, and News Corp Australia is now a majority shareholder of Foxtel/FOX SPORTS Australia, which owns and operates Sky News Australia.

This building is a stone’s throw from Madison Square Park, and Rupert paid $57.25 million to complete the deal. In 1984, Murdoch bought Marc Rich’s interest in 20th Century Fox from Marvin Davis for $250 million. Rich had to sell due to the trade deals he’d made with Iran, which were sanctioned by the United States at the time. Murdoch then purchased all of the independent television stations owned by John Kluge, who was the richest man in the world in 1990.

Murdoch’s son, Lachlan, who runs the Fox empire including its broadcast, cable news, business and sports networks, purchased his own Bel Air home in 2019. Australian-born businessman Rupert Murdoch inherited the Sunday Mail and the News from his father, a famous war correspondent and newspaper publisher. Murdoch continued to purchase other media outlets over the years, including American newspapers beginning in the 1970s. He branched out into entertainment with the purchase of 20th Century Fox Film Corp. in 1985 and later sparked a transformation of the cable TV landscape by introducing Fox News. Four years after restructuring his empire into two divisions, 21st Century Fox Inc. and News Corp., Murdoch sold much of 21st Century Fox to the Walt Disney Company in 2017. Amid the restructuring of 21st Century Fox, the company engaged in talks with Walt Disney over the sale of its properties.