One newspaper becomes an empire
Murdoch's starting point was modest by the standards of the fortune he later built. When his father, the Australian newspaper executive Sir Keith Murdoch, died in 1952, the family's main remaining asset was a controlling interest in The News, an afternoon paper in Adelaide. Rupert Murdoch, then in his early twenties, took charge of it. His wealth is usually classed as self made because nearly all of it was created by the expansion he led, though he did inherit that first business.
He grew by acquisition, buying struggling papers and making them sell. In Australia he bought the Daily Mirror in Sydney in 1960 and founded The Australian, the country's first national daily, in 1964. In Britain he bought the News of the World and The Sun in 1969, later adding The Times and The Sunday Times in 1981. In the United States he bought the New York Post in 1976.
The bigger move was into film and television. In 1985 he bought the Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox and a group of local television stations, and to own American broadcast stations he became a United States citizen. In 1986 he launched the Fox television network, the first new national network in decades, and in 1996 he started Fox News.
News Corp, Fox and the family trust
Murdoch's assets are held largely through a family trust that controls two listed companies:
- News Corp: newspapers including The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, The Times and The Sun, along with Australian papers, the publisher HarperCollins, and real estate websites
- Fox Corporation: Fox News, the Fox broadcast network, Fox Sports and local television stations in the United States
The Wall Street Journal joined the group when he bought Dow Jones in 2007. In Britain, he built the satellite broadcaster Sky, which merged with a rival in 1990 to form BSkyB.
In 2013 the original News Corporation split into a newspaper and publishing company and a film and television company, 21st Century Fox. In 2019 the Walt Disney Company bought most of 21st Century Fox, including the film studio, for a very large sum, and the remaining assets formed Fox Corporation.
Murdoch stepped down as chairman of both companies in November 2023, leaving his son Lachlan in charge. In 2025 the family reached a settlement that left Lachlan in control of the trust, with several of his siblings giving up their interests in exchange for payments.
Melbourne, Oxford and Adelaide
Keith Rupert Murdoch was born in 1931 in Melbourne. His father ran the Herald and Weekly Times newspaper group, and his mother, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, became one of Australia's best known philanthropists. He attended Geelong Grammar School and then studied at Worcester College, Oxford. He also spent a short time working at a London newspaper to learn the trade.
He returned to Australia after his father's death in 1952 and took over The News in Adelaide. From there he spent the next decades moving through newspapers in Australia and Britain and then into American media, moving his base to New York.
The News of the World phone hacking scandal in 2011 was one of the most serious episodes of his career. Journalists at the paper had illegally accessed voicemails of public figures and crime victims. Murdoch closed the paper, testified before a British parliamentary committee and apologized to victims.
He has been married five times, most recently to Elena Zhukova in 2024. He has six children, several of whom have held senior roles in his companies.
Political influence and giving
Murdoch's public life has been defined less by philanthropy than by his influence on politics and the media. His newspapers and television channels have supported and opposed political leaders in Australia, Britain and the United States, and politicians have often sought his backing. His critics argue that this influence has been too great, while supporters say his outlets offered alternatives to established media.
His family's best known charitable tradition comes from his mother, who supported hospitals, the arts and research for decades. The Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, one of the leading child health research centers in Australia, was established with the backing of the family.
News Corp and Fox have supported various charitable causes through their own programs, including disaster relief and education.
Murdoch has rarely made large personal gifts under his own name compared with other people of similar wealth. In retirement he holds the title of chairman emeritus at both companies and continues to follow the newspapers closely.