Rupert Murdoch

After his father Keith Murdoch died in 1952, Murdoch took over the running of The News, a small Adelaide newspaper owned by his father. In the 1950s and 1960s, Murdoch acquired a number of newspapers in Australia and New Zealand before expanding into the United Kingdom in 1969, taking over the News of the World, followed closely by The Sun. In 1974, Murdoch moved to New York City, to expand into the US market; however, he retained interests in Australia and the UK. In 1981, Murdoch bought The Times, his first British broadsheet, and, in 1985, became a naturalized US citizen, giving up his Australian citizenship, to satisfy the legal requirement for US television network ownership.^[5] In 1986, keen to adopt newer electronic publishing technologies, Murdoch consolidated his UK printing operations in London, causing bitter industrial disputes. His holding company News Corporation acquired Twentieth Century Fox (1985), HarperCollins (1989),^[6] and The Wall Street Journal (2007). Murdoch formed the British broadcaster BSkyB in 1990 and, during the 1990s, expanded into Asian networks and South American television. By 2000, Murdoch's News Corporation owned more than 800 companies in more than 50 countries, with a net worth of more than $5 billion.^[7]


In July 2011, Murdoch faced allegations that his companies, including the News of the World, owned by News Corporation, had been regularly hacking the phones of celebrities, royalty, and public citizens. Murdoch faced police and government investigations into bribery and corruption by the British government and FBI investigations in the US.^[8][9] On 21 July 2012, Murdoch resigned as a director of News International.^[10][11] In September 2023, Murdoch announced he would be stepping down as chairman of Fox Corp. and News Corp.^[12] Many of Murdoch's papers and television channels have been accused of biased and misleading coverage to support his business interests^[13][14][15] and political allies,^[16][17][18] and some have linked his influence with major political developments in the UK, US, and Australia.^[16][19][20]

Early life and education

Keith Rupert Murdoch was born on 11 March 1931 in Melbourne, Victoria, the second of four children of Sir Keith Murdoch (1885–1952) and Dame Elisabeth (née Greene; 1909–2012).^{[21][22]: 9} He is of English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. His parents were also born in Melbourne. His father was a war correspondent and later a regional newspaper magnate, owning two newspapers in Adelaide, South Australia, and a radio station in a remote mining town, and chairman of the Herald and Weekly Times publishing company.^{[5][23]: 16 [24]} Murdoch had three sisters: Helen (1929–2004), Anne (born 1935) and Janet (born 1939).^[25]: 47 His Scottish-born paternal grandfather, Patrick John Murdoch, was a Presbyterian minister.^[26]


He attended Geelong Grammar School,^[27] where he was co-editor of the school's official journal The Corian and editor of the student journal If Revived.^[28][29]


Murdoch studied philosophy, politics and economics at Worcester College, Oxford, in England, where he kept a bust of Lenin in his rooms and came to be known as "Red Rupert". He was a member of the Oxford University Labour Party,^{[23]: 34 [30]} stood for secretary of the Labour Club^[31] and managed Oxford Student Publications Limited, the publishing house of Cherwell.^[32]


After his father's death from cancer in 1952, his mother did charity work as life governor of the Royal Women's Hospital in Melbourne and established the Murdoch Children's Research Institute; at the age of 102 (in 2011), she had 74 descendants.^[33]


While his father was alive, he worked part-time at the Melbourne Herald and was groomed by his father to take over the family business.^[5][30] After his father's death, Rupert began working as a sub-editor with the Daily Express for two years.^[5]