If you are getting married for the fifth time, pairing sneakers with a suit isn’t a bad idea. At least that is what 93-year-old billionaire Rupert Murdoch seemed to suggest as he tied the knot with Elena Zhukova, 67, on June 1 2024. The media mogul made headlines last year after he stepped down as the chairman of Fox and News Corp, ending a more than seven-decade career. A prominent figure in the news business, Murdoch successfully built a global media empire that earned him his billionaire status. From being called the real-life Logan Roy (of Succession) to being a formidable cultural persona, here’s breaking down the massive net worth of Rupert Murdoch, his high-profile marriages, and more.
Rupert Murdoch’s marriage to Elena Zhukova came as a surprise to many, considering the couple announced their engagement just three months ago. The media baron began dating Zhukova last year, shortly after calling off his engagement to ex-police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith in April 2023. Amid the news of his fifth marriage, there has been a lot of interest surrounding his new wife, so here’s a look at Elena Zhukova’s history and how she met Murdoch.
Who is Rupert Murdoch’s wife Elena Zhukova?
Elena Zhukova is a retired Russian biologist who has studied at institutions such as the University of California in Los Angeles. According to the BBC, she met Murdoch at a party hosted by his ex-wife, Chinese-born entrepreneur Wendi Deng. While this is Murdoch’s fifth marriage, Zhukova was also previously married to Russian oil billionaire Alexander Zhukov and also shares a daughter, Dasha, with him. Interestingly, Zhukova’s daughter also had a high-profile marriage; she was married to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich till 2017. He is well-known for being the former owner of the Chelsea football club.
As for Zhukova and Murdoch’s recent wedding, the couple tied the knot in an intimate ceremony held at Murdoch’s California vineyard on the Moraga estate in Bel Air. From this sprawling wedding venue to his news empire and more, let’s take a look at Rupert Murdoch’s net worth, his past marriages, and more.
Timeline of Rupert Murdoch’s media businesses
The Australian-born magnate began his journey into the media sector back in the 1950s, following in the footsteps of his father, Melbourne-based newspaper proprietor and journalist Keith Murdoch who was already a renowned name in the news business. As chief editor of the Melbourne Herald in 1921, Keith Murdoch revolutionised reporting and reinvented the paper with coverage of local crime stories that helped to boost circulation. Much of Keith’s appetite for success and strong business acumen served to foreshadow the way that Rupert later built his own media empire.
At age 21, while he was still an Oxford student, Rupert inherited The News of Adelaide, a newspaper in southern Australia run by his family. This was only the beginning; by the 1960s nearly a decade later, Murdoch found himself among the top names in the Australian news business, which led to him venturing into buying other news outlets such as The Sunday Times in Perth and The Daily Mirror in Sydney. In 1964, he started a new national newspaper in Australia called The Australian.
British media takeover
Soon after, the Australian news magnate shifted his attention to businesses outside his home country, and in 1969, he bought two newspapers in Britain: The News of the World and The Sun. Murdoch turned the ailing Sun newspaper into the biggest-selling daily newspaper by relaunching it as a tabloid that became known for its sensational coverage. While Murdoch continued to make a huge business out of the two, he also strengthened his hold over the British media when he acquired The Times and The Sunday Times in Britain in 1981. At the same time, he looked Westwards into the United States, where he hoped to enter the news market of the time.
By 1988, Murdoch had begun tuning into the cable news wave. To this end, he founded Sky Television in Britain, and soon after that, the network began their cable TV news channel Sky News.
The birth of the New York Post and Fox News
In changing the face of British news coverage by pushing for bolder content with shock value, the businessman found potential for the same in America. In 1973, he purchased The San Antonio Express and The San Antonio News. While Murdoch’s company no longer owns the two newspapers, the acquisitions marked the start of his business dealings in the United States. He later bought The New York Post for USD 30.5 million in 1976; he briefly parted ways with it in 1988 before reacquiring it in 1993. Since then, The Post has been owned by News Corporation and its replacement, News Corp.
With his growing success in the cable news business, Murdoch went on to buy 20th Century Fox in a landmark deal in 1985. A year later, he launched Fox, a broadcast network that would go on to run renowned shows like The Simpsons.
The history of Fox News as we know it today is equally fascinating. He started the Fox News cable channel in 1996 alongside Roger E. Ailes, who was a former aide to US Presidents Richard M. Nixon and George H.W. Bush. The news channel became popular for appealing to the views of the conservatives in the US and famously launched the careers of journalists like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly among others. As of 2024, Fox Corporation is valued at a whopping USD 15.56 billion.
Publishing and other businesses
Not many know that top publishing company HarperCollins is a subsidiary of News Corp. HarperCollins was born from two separate publishing entities, Harper & Row and William Collins, both of which were acquired by News Corp and merged into a singular entity. As of 2021, the company reportedly made revenue of nearly USD 1.985 billion, which has helped to raise the net worth of Rupert Murdoch in a significant manner.
The Wall Street Journal’s parent company Dow Jones & Company was also purchased by Murdoch for USD 5 billion in 2007. After the 1990s, Rupert Murdoch established himself as a media baron wielding massive global influence; however, that did not come without its problems as he has landed in several controversies and scandals over the years.
Controversies and lawsuits
Time and again, Murdoch’s news businesses have played a pivotal role in shaping electoral outcomes. The business’ strong political leanings have led to accusations of biased coverage across several outlets under the corporation. A fairly recent example of it has been the alleged role of Fox News in catapulting Donald Trump to his Presidential victory thanks to their favourable coverage. In the case of the UK as well, the Murdoch media empire was accused of supporting the Leave campaign for Brexit with bold headlines such as “BeLEAVE in Britain” plastered on their front pages ahead of the referendum.
Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World were also involved in an infamous phone hacking scandal after it was revealed by former NoW journalist Sean Hoare that the company indulged in phone hacking practices for stories. After an investigation was carried out regarding the same in 2011, the company released an official apology for hacking into voicemails between 2004 and 2006 and pledged compensation to victims. Amid public backlash and the cold shoulder from advertisers, Murdoch eventually shut down the newspaper on July 7 2011.
Yet another Murdoch business found itself under scrutiny in 2016, after a sexual harassment lawsuit was filed against Fox News’ former chairman and CEO, Roger Ailes. Multiple women including former Fox journalist Gretchen Carlson came forward to reveal that they had faced sexual harassment at the company. More than 20 women came forward to accuse Ailes of harassment and he was forced to resign from his position that same year. He passed away a year later, at the age of 77.
Apart from his businesses running into scandals, Murdoch himself was never too far away from them, and on several occasions, he was accused of posting offensive takes on social media. Among the media baron’s most infamous social media scandals were his suggestion that US President Barack Obama is not a “real black president” and his support of Ben Carson in one of his tweets. He later apologised for the same.
In yet another scandal that erupted before he stepped down from Fox and News Corp, Murdoch was deposed in 2023 in Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit about Fox News’s coverage of allegations of fraud in the 2020 US presidential election. Murdoch settled the landmark defamation case for USD 787.5 million in April and eventually stepped down from the company in September.
The inspiration for HBO’s Succession
Despite Succession showrunner Jesse Armstrong’s denial that the famed HBO series was based on the Murdoch family, viewers found several similarities between the real-life media baron and their fictional counterparts. A Vanity Fair piece revealed, that much like the show’s patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox), Rupert Murdoch also pitted his kids against one another.
Murdoch’s sons James and Lachlan have also been compared to the Roy siblings, Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman (Kieran Culkin), particularly because of their distinct styles of handling business. Their previous titles, Lachlan being the executive co-chairman and James’ promotion to CEO of 21st Century Fox are a reminder of the Roy siblings’ title duels from the show. Unlike Logan Roy, Rupert Murdoch did make his succession decision final last year with Lachlan taking over; the fictional Roy siblings’ story, however, sadly met a tragic end.
Family and marriages of Rupert Murdoch
Patricia Booker
While he is no stranger to controversy in his professional life, Murdoch’s personal life is equally fascinating, given that his high-profile marriages as well as divorces have made headlines. While his fifth marriage took place at the age of 93 in 2024, his first marriage dates back to 1956 when he was just 25. His first wife was Patricia Booker, a model and flight attendant. The duo were married for over a decade and also had a daughter, Prudence who was on the board of Times Newspapers, Ltd. from December 2010 to March 2022 as per AP. Murdoch split from his first wife in 1967.
Anna Murdoch Mann
Soon after his divorce, Murdoch met his second wife, Anna Murdoch Mann, who was a journalist who interviewed him while working with Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph. Not long after forming a close bond, the duo tied the knot. His marriage with Anna was his longest, as the couple were together for 32 years before they got divorced in 1999. The former couple’s separation made headlines as it was among the most expensive divorces in the world, with a staggering settlement of USD 1.7 billion awarded to Anna. From his marriage with the Scottish journalist, he welcomed three children — Elisabeth Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch, and James Murdoch. The media baron named Lachlan as his successor for News Corp last year.
Wendi Deng
Amid rumours of an affair leading to the breakdown of his former marriage with Mann, Murdoch shocked everyone as he married Chinese-American entrepreneur Deng less than a month after finalising his divorce. Deng was 31 whereas Murdoch was 68 at the time. After meeting each other at a television station owned by News Corp where she worked at the time, the duo immediately tied the knot and later also became parents to two daughters, Grace and Chloe Murdoch. The couple filed for divorce in 2013.
Jerry Hall
Three years on, Murdoch once again found love, this time in model Jerry Hall who was the former wife of Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger. The media baron tied the knot with Hall when he was 85 and was married to her for six years before heading for divorce in June 2022. According to a report from Vanity Fair, Murdoch ended his marriage with Hall over an email, in which he reportedly said, “We have certainly had some good times, but I have much to do.”
Ann Lesley Smith
Shortly after his fourth divorce, his personal life once again became a topic of discussion after it was announced that he was set to marry Ann Lesley Smith, a former model and San Francisco police chaplain. However, much to everyone’s surprise, the wedding was called off weeks after its announcement in April 2023, soon after which he met his now wife Elena Zhukova.
Despite shelling out millions in his divorces, Ruper Murdoch’s thriving news businesses have made him a billionaire. Let’s take a look at how he spends his massive fortune.
Luxury assets and real estate
Among the most expensive assets owned by Murdoch is a private jet, a Gulfstream G650 worth USD 84 million. The billionaire has enjoyed family holidays sailing through picturesque waters on his luxury yachts. He has also owned the Perini Navi sailing yacht Rosehearty and the Philippe Briand-designed sailing yacht Vertigo. Murdoch sold Rosehearty in 2014 for USD 29.7 million.
As for his real estate spending, the media baron owns multiple properties spread across the United States and Britain. In 2013, Murdoch bought a Bel-Air property for USD 28.8 million. The 16-acre property, named the Moraga estate, also houses vineyards.
In one of his recent purchases, Murdoch paid USD 35.2 million for a luxury apartment at 150 Central Park South, known as Hampshire House. Before that, he also bought a USD 200 million ranch in Montana, a massive estate that spans 340,000 acres near Yellowstone National Park.
The billionaire also listed two of his New York condos for sale at a whopping price of USD 80 million in 2022.
Other luxury assets in his possession are high-end cars including a Mercedes Benz S-Class, Mercedes Benz Maybach S600, and a Rolls Royce Ghost Black Badge.
The staggering net worth of Rupert Murdoch
Media magnate Rupert Murdoch’s net worth as of 2024 stands at USD 19.8 billion. Murdoch has built most of this fortune through his media business and by striking highly profitable deals over his seven-decades-long career.
Among the highly successful deals struck by Rupert Murdoch that helped add to his net worth include the sale of Fox’s movie studio, FX, and National Geographic Networks and its stake in Star India to Disney in a deal worth USD 71.3 billion in March 2019.
According to Reuters, Rupert Murdoch’s total compensation in 2023 before he stepped down included an annual base salary of USD 5 million, about USD 7.6 million in stock options, and USD 4.4 million in incentive pay. The report also revealed that his son Lachlan Murdoch, who is currently the CEO of News Corp, received a compensation of USD 21.8 million last year.
Rupert Murdoch currently remains Chairman Emeritus of both News Corp and Fox.
(Main and featured image: Getty Images)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– Why is Rupert Murdoch famous?
Rupert Murdoch has a net worth of USD 19.8 billion and is a renowned media magnate who served as the co-chairman of Fox Corporation, and the executive chairman of News Corp.
– Who owns Fox News?
The company is controlled by the Murdoch family with a 39.6% ownership share, and by Rupert himself to the effect of almost 40%. The channel significantly contributes to Rupert Murdoch’s wealth, and the billionaire has a current net worth of USD 19.8 billion.
– Has Rupert Murdoch watched Succession?
Rupert Murdoch’s daughter-in-law and entrepreneur Kathryn Murdoch revealed that the family tried to watch the show but did not continue further.
– How many times has Rupert Murdoch married?
Rupert Murdoch got married for the fifth time in June 2024. The billionaire tied the knot with Elena Zhukova at his Bel-Air property.
– Are the Murdochs billionaires?
On Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list, Rupert Murdoch and his family are ranked on the 100th position as of 2024.
