On June 3rd, Caixin News Agency reported that American media giant News Corp has confirmed that its founder, 93 year old Rupert Murdoch, has achieved his fifth marriage in his life.
It is reported that the two parties held their wedding last Saturday at the Murdoch family's Belleville Vineyard in California. According to the pictures provided by News Corporation, 93 year old Murdoch is wearing a straight suit, with 67 year old Elena Zhukova leaning against him. In March this year, the newlyweds announced their engagement on the eve of Murdoch's upcoming 93rd birthday.
Last year, Murdoch announced his retirement from the positions of Chairman of News Corporation and Fox Group, and his eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, took over the mantle. Although Murdoch's 70 year exploration journey in the business field has come to an end, his pursuit of personal emotions has not come to an end.
Due to the strong control of the Murdoch family in the media industry, many Western media outlets have emphasized that the groom is our (former) boss when reporting on Mr. Murdoch's new marriage.
Media legends and love influencers
In 1952, Murdoch inherited several Australian newspapers from his father and, after decades of expansion, developed into a global media conglomerate spanning countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Investors are familiar with the Wall Street Journal (financial information services firm Dow Jones), The Times, The Sun, The Daily Telegraph, Fox News, and well-known publisher Harper Collins, all of which are subsidiaries of News Corporation.
While exploring the media empire, Murdoch's emotional life is also a frequent guest on major media headlines. The complexity of this even exceeds the historical evolution of many listed company prospectuses.
In 1956, at the age of 25, Murdoch married Australian flight attendant Patricia Booker and had a daughter, Prudence Murdoch. In 1967, both parties ended their 11 year marriage, and there were reports that Patricia had passed away in 1999. Although Prudence holds multiple positions within News Corporation, he rarely appears in public and has always been quite low-key.
A few months after ending their first marriage, Murdoch and 23-year-old Scottish journalist Anna Murdoch Mann quickly began their second marriage, which lasted for a total of 32 years. Within 5 years of their marriage, the two gave birth to two sons and a daughter, with their eldest son Lackland and second son James being the two most fiercely fought in the War of Inheritance.
From a business perspective, including their eldest daughter Prudence, these four individuals also constitute the four pillars of the "post Murdoch era" news group - in the family trust established by Murdoch, only Murdoch and these four children have voting rights, and only these four individuals can inherit voting shares in the trust fund.
After the marriage between Murdoch and Anna ended in 1999, he entered the marriage hall for the third time only two months later, this time with 30-year-old Wendy Deng. The two had two daughters, Grace and Chloe, respectively in 2001 and 2003, and ended their marriage in 2013. It is worth mentioning that Grace and Chloe are also able to receive non voting shares in the Murdoch family trust arrangement.
After a rare long window of absence, Murdoch entered his fourth marriage in 2016, one week before his 85th birthday, marrying 59-year-old American supermodel and actress Jerry Hall. Hall is the ex-wife of Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger. Their marriage came to an end in the summer of 2022.
Until then, at the age of 91, Murdoch was still a big boy obsessed with love. In an interview with his own media, The New York Post, he revealed that he met 66 year old former model and police pastor Ann Lesley in September 2022, but also admitted that "this may be the last time he falls in love in his life.". The two of them reached the stage of engagement last year, but the wedding was cancelled only two weeks after announcing their engagement.
According to British media reports, after a brief disappointment, Murdoch regained his momentum last summer. At the party hosted by his third wife Deng Wendi, the 92 year old man and Zhu Kewa sparked a spark of love.
Easter eggs: The background of Zhukova is not simple either
Zhukova's life experience is not simple either. Her ex husband was Russian oil tycoon Alexander Zhukov, who was reportedly also a relative of former Soviet Marshal Zhukov. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Zhukova moved to the United States with her daughter and engaged in biological research at the University of California, Los Angeles,
Zhukova's daughter, Dasha Zhukova, moved to the United States with her mother at the age of 10. She married the well-known Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in 2008 and had a son and daughter. The two divorced in 2018. Dasha Zhukova married Stavros Nialhos III, the grandson of the Greek ship king Nialhos, in 2019 and has a son. According to reports, Dasha is a good friend of Murdoch's third wife Wendy Deng in the New York social circle. So, the success of Yelena Zhukova and Murdoch cannot be achieved without this layer of matchmaking and bridging relationship.