Rupert Murdoch

Australia-born tabloid titan welcomed Dow Jones and its crown jewel, the Wall Street Journal, into News Corp. empire in December after $5.6 billion all-cash takeover. Plans to challenge the New York Times on political coverage while expanding business news and analysis on the Web to establish the Journal as dominant national media outlet. So far market unimpressed: Stock down 34% in 12 months, erasing $2 billion from his net worth. Despite success of Fox News channel, Fox Business Network, available in 35 million homes, slow to gain audience since October debut. Oxford grad inherited one newspaper at 23, built media empire with Australian and U.S. tabloids, Fox film studio and broadcast network, conservative-leaning cable outlet. May have settled succession plans; appointed son James as the head of Europe and Asia operations. Mr Murdoch was married to Australian flight attendant Patricia Booker, from 1956 to 1967; Scottish-born journalist Anna Mann, from 1967 to 1999; and Chinese-born entrepreneur Wendi Deng, from 1999 to 2014. He married Jerry Hall in 2016 and was in June 2022 was reported to be seeking a divorce.