Murdoch is the former chairman of publicly-traded News Corp. and Fox Corp. The latter focuses on television production, cable news and broadcasting, and had revenue of $14.9 billion in the year to June 30, 2023. News Corp. is a publisher that owns the Wall Street Journal, New York Post and The Sun.
Murdoch owns stakes in publicly traded News Corp. and Fox Corp. The holdings are largely held through the Murdoch Family Trust that he still controls, according to regulatory filings.
In March 2019, Walt Disney Co. completed its $71 billion purchase of some assets that were formerly part of 21st Century Fox including Fox movie studio, cable channels such as FX and National Geographic, and some international assets. Murdoch received $12 billion of proceeds, which were distributed to his six children, people familiar with the transaction have said. That transfer, recorded in this valuation on March 20, 2019, led to a fall of about $12 billion in Murdoch's net worth calculation.
The value of his cash investments is based on an analysis of dividends, insider transactions, taxes and market appreciation. Murdoch also owns real estate around the world that's included at reported purchase prices, including a New York apartment for which he paid $57 million.
Megan Klein, a spokeswoman for Fox, didn't respond to a request for comment on Murdoch's net worth. News Corp. owns Dow Jones Newswires, a competitor of Bloomberg News.
Born in Australia to a father who turned his early years as a war correspondent into a career in publishing with the Australian papers Sunday Mail and the News. Educated at Oxford, young Rupert returned to Australia to take over the family's publishing businesses following his father's death in 1952. He involved himself in all matters of the paper's production -- writing display copy, redesigning page layouts, toiling at the print shop -- while putting a special emphasis on lurid stories and scandals. Circulation soared.
With his business booming, Murdoch began buying up other papers on the continent, including the Perth Sunday Times and the Daily Mirror in Sydney. He unveiled the country's first national newspaper, the Australian in 1964. He expanded the business internationally, buying the UK's News of the World, in 1968, and the Sun, a year later. He purchased his first paper in the US, the San Antonio Express-News in 1973. The New York Post followed three years later.
Murdoch began assembling his Fox empire in the 1980s, first by buying a stake in 20th Century Fox, and then adding a number of local television stations that he later transformed into the fourth major broadcast network in the US. Successful forays into satellite and cable television followed. He bought Dow Jones and its trophy property, the Wall Street Journal, in 2007.
The Guardian broke the news of widespread phone-hacking taking place at News of the World in July 2009. Murdoch and his son, James, were eventually summoned to testify at an ethics inquiry in London, after which Murdoch was declared unfit to run a major corporation. The scandal brought the resignation of longtime lieutenant Rebekah Brooks, the arrest of more than 40 people and the closing of News of the World.
Walt Disney completed the purchase of Fox's studio, cable channels and international assets for $71 billion in March 2019.
Fox and News Corp announced in September 2023 that Murdoch was stepping-down as chairman of both companies after a near 70-year career.