Murdoch marriage ends in ‘amicable’ divorce
NEW YORK — Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., agreed to a settlement that will complete a divorce from his third wife, Wendi Deng Murdoch, after 14 years of marriage.
Rupert Murdoch, who also serves as chief executive of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc., filed for divorce in June. The couple has a pre-nuptial agreement, and the settlement talks were amicable, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Wendi Murdoch will keep the couple’s Fifth Avenue residence as part of the settlement, according to the person, who requested anonymity. The couple has two daughters, Grace and Chloe, who live in New York.
“I’m glad you have been able to resolve these matters amicably,” Justice Ellen Gesmer told the parties during a brief court appearance Wednesday in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
When Murdoch filed for divorce, he said the relationship had “broken down irretrievably.”
Wendi Murdoch, 37 years younger than her husband, made headlines in 2011 for physically defending him when he gave testimony at a Parliament hearing over a hacking scandal at his U.K. newspapers. She lunged at a man who had tried to throw a pie in Murdoch’s face.
The two were married in 1999, weeks after Rupert’s divorce from his previous wife. His first marriage, to Patricia Booker, ended in 1965. Two years later, he married a reporter at one of his newspapers, Anna Torv, and had three children, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James, all of whom have figured prominently at one point in the workings of his company.
Murdoch’s net worth is $12.5 billion, making him the world’s 89th-richest person.