Wendi Deng Murdoch
Wendi Deng Murdoch (simplified Chinese: 邓文迪; traditional Chinese: 鄧文迪; pinyin: Dèng Wéndí; born Deng Wenge; December 5, 1968) is a Chinese-born American entrepreneur, investor, film producer, and collector of Chinese contemporary art.[3][4]
In this Chinese name, the family name is Deng.
Wendi Murdoch
邓文迪
邓文迪
American
- Deng Dehui (father)
- Liu Xueqin (mother)
Dèng Wéndí
Dèng Wéndí
Early life and education[edit]
Wendi Deng was born in Jinan, Shandong and raised in Xuzhou, Jiangsu.[5] Her birth name was Deng Wenge, (邓文革; 鄧文革),[5][6] Deng, the family name,[7] and Wenge meaning "Cultural Revolution".[5][8][9] She has two older sisters, and a brother,[5][7] and both of her parents were engineers.[5][10] When she was a teen she changed her given name to "Wendi".[11][6][12]
She attended Xuzhou First Secondary School (a.k.a. Xuzhou No.1 Middle School). She became a competitive volleyball player.[13][14] While she was in high school, her father relocated to Guangzhou, where he was a factory director[7] at the People's Machinery Works; she and her family remained in Xuzhou until they joined their father a short time later.[5] In 1985, she was enrolled at the Guangzhou Medical College.[7]
In 1988, she left medical school and went to the United States on a study permit. She enrolled at California State University, Northridge,[15] where she studied economics and was among the top scoring students.[16][17] She obtained a BA in Economics from California State University at Northridge and an MBA from Yale University.[10]
Career and public profile[edit]
Upon graduation from Yale in 1996,[18] Deng met Bruce Churchill. At that time, Churchill oversaw finance and corporate development at the Fox TV branch in Los Angeles. He offered Deng an internship at News Corp subsidiary Star TV in Hong Kong, which developed into a full-time junior executive position. Though a junior employee, she took a role in working to plan Star TV's operations in Hong Kong and China and helped to build up Chinese distribution for Star's Channel V music channel.[7] Within one year, she became a vice president.[10] Additionally, she investigated interactive TV opportunities for News Digital Systems.[7]
Murdoch was an advisor for MySpace's China operation, prior to the company's sale to Specific Media in June 2011.[19][20][21] She led the Murdoch family's Chinese internet investments and helped form business links with China for high-speed video and internet access.[22]
In 2009, Murdoch co-founded the online platform Artsy[23] with Carter Cleveland[24] and Dasha Zhukova,[25] which has since become one of the top online places for buying, viewing and learning about art.[26][10][27] Other investors include Peter Thiel, François Pinault and Eric Schmidt.[25][10] She has invested in tech start-ups including Oscar, Snapchat, Uber and Warby Parker.[24][10]
In 2011, Murdoch co-produced her first film with Florence Sloan,[28] Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, a movie about two footbound children in Qing dynasty China,[29][30] directed by Wayne Wang.[31] The film won the Golden Angel Award at the Chinese American Film Festival.[32] She also produced the Netflix documentary Sky Ladder[33] which showcased the art of Cai Guo-Qiang[34] and directed by Academy Award-winning director Kevin MacDonald.[35] The film premiered in January 2016 at the Sundance Film Festival.[36] Sotheby's hosted a private reception and screening of the film in October 2016 before the film's Netflix debut.[37]