Murdoch, a media tycoon in his nineties, holds a global media empire, has a family struggle, billions of wealth, and a complex marriage. The plot is ups and downs, comparable to "Game of Thrones".
He controls world-renowned media such as The Sun, The Times, and Fox News, but recently he has become the focus again due to a battle for hundreds of billions of dollars in property.
Just this Monday, the dust settled, and the verdict of the Murdoch family's property dispute case was shocking:
The biggest winner is not the eldest son in charge, nor the other three adult children, but Wendi Deng’s two daughters - 23-year-old Grace and 22-year-old Chloe!
The two little girls, relying on the "god assist" of their family trust, became billionaires, and the average wealth they received was much more than expected.
Rupert Murdoch, the name is almost synonymous with the global media industry.
His News Corp and Fox's media are spread all over the world, from newspapers to television, from Australia to the United States, with influence everywhere.
In September 2025, this highly anticipated war of production finally came to an end:
The eldest son Lachland continues to firmly sit in the "throne" of the family business, managing News Corporation and Fox.
And the other three children - Prudent, Elizabeth and James - each received a huge compensation of about $1.1 billion on the condition that they completely gave up their equity in the family business.
The price of this transaction is quite high! Murdoch spent more than 23.5 billion yuan, equivalent to buying out the inheritance rights of his three children and ensuring the absolute control of his eldest son Lachlan.
What is even more surprising is that Murdoch also set up a family trust, with beneficiaries not only including the above four children, but also Wendi Deng’s two daughters - Grace and Chloe.
This means that Murdoch's total wealth of US$24.4 billion (about RMB 170 billion) will be distributed by six children, and each person can theoretically get more than US$4 billion (about RMB 28 billion).
Compared to the previous expectation that Grace and Chloe could only get up to $2 billion each, these two girls undoubtedly "winned".
As for Murdoch's fifth wife, 68-year-old Elena Jukova?
She didn't seem to get any guarantee, and she could be called "returning empty-handed".
Murdoch was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1931. He inherited his father's tabloid business when he was young. He relied on his keen sense of business and adventurous spirit to build a global media empire step by step.
In the 1950s, he started out from a local newspaper in Australia and acquired the Sun, transforming it into a popular and eye-catching public reading material.
After he turned his attention to the United Kingdom and the United States, and successively won heavyweight media such as the Times, Wall Street Journal, and Fox News.
His business philosophy is simple and crude: to cater to the public's taste, create topics, and control public opinion.
This made him one of the most influential media tycoons in the world, but it also made him make countless enemies and controversy.
In addition to this person's legendary career experience, his relationship is also very exciting.
A popular sentence on the Internet: If you have money, you will have the whole world; if you have money, you will have countless stepmothers and brothers and sisters.
However, compared with gambling king Stanley Ho, Murdoch has fewer children, but one more "wife" than him.
The first wife Patricia Booker, whose marriage gave birth to Murdoch's eldest daughter, Prudens, ended up with a divorce. The reason is unknown, and it may just be a "test" when she was young.
The second wife, Anna Toff, was Murdoch's longest marriage, lasting 32 years.
Anna gave birth to three children of Elizabeth, Lachlan and James for him, and was a core member of the family business. But in 1999, the two divorced, and rumors were related to Murdoch's new love.
The third wife Wendi Deng, the appearance of Wendi Deng can be regarded as the highlight of Murdoch's life.
This Chinese woman, 38 years younger than Murdoch, entered Murdoch's world with amazing wisdom and courage, and gave birth to two daughters, Grace and Chloe.
Wendi Deng has a place in News Corp. with her own abilities.
The two divorced in 2013, and Wendi Deng received a considerable breakup fee and some assets.
The fourth wife, Jay Li Hall, was 85 years old when Murdoch married Mick Jagger's ex Hall, the lead singer of the Rolling Stones.
This marriage lasted for six years, had no children, and eventually broke up peacefully.
The fifth wife, Elena Zhukova, was married to Jukova, a 68-year-old Russian biologist at the age of 93.
This marriage has only started a year ago and has caught up with the war of property struggle, but Jukova seems to have failed to get a share of the property distribution.
Especially Wendi Deng's part, it can be called "the legend of the legend", laying the groundwork for the later battle for industry.
When talking about Wendi Deng, many people's first reaction is "social queen" or "legendary woman".
She was born in Jiangsu, China in 1968. She was admitted to Yale Business School in the United States with her own efforts, and then joined Murdoch's News Corp.
In 1999, she had a flash marriage with Murdoch, shocking the world.
The two are 38 years apart. The outside world has mixed opinions on this marriage. Some people say that she is "climbing the branches" and some people praise her "extremely wise".
But it is undeniable that Wendi Deng showed amazing business acumen and social skills during her marriage, not only held an important position at News Corp, but also helped Murdoch expand his Asian market, especially in China.
Wendi Deng and Murdoch's two daughters, Grace (born in 2001) and Chloe (born in 2003), have been doomed to be extraordinary since birth.
They not only inherited their mother's oriental genes, but also supported Murdoch's empire of wealth.
When the divorce, Wendi Deng won the beneficiary rights of the family trust for her two daughters, which became the key to their "letting go" in the future.
The outside world knows very little about the specific details of the trust, but it is reported that Grace and Chloe could originally receive up to $2 billion each. After this property dispute, they theoretically obtained more than $4 billion in wealth through the distribution of family trusts, which is far beyond expectations.
Why do they say they are the biggest winners?
Although their mother Wendi Deng divorced, she obviously paved the way for her daughters in the distribution of property.
In contrast, although Prudent, Elizabeth and James each earn $1.1 billion to $1.4 billion, the price they paid was to give up their equity in their family business, which was equivalent to withdrawing from the core circle of power.
Grace and Chloe neither participated in the struggle nor had to give up any rights and interests. They steadily enjoy the trust dividends, which can be called "a lying victory".
As the eldest son, Lachlan was able to firmly sit in the position of power.
He was born in 1971 and is the son of Murdoch and his second wife Anna. He was regarded as a successor by his father since childhood.
Lackland has held various executive positions at News Corp and Fox, and has accumulated extensive management experience.
The essence of this industry war is that Murdoch retains control of the eldest son in order to ensure that the family business is not divided.
He spent a lot of money to buy out the equity of other children, which can be called a "cutting off the fire from the cauldron".
I would rather pay a price of 23.5 billion than keep the empire intact.
Information source:
Interface News: Murdoch family reaches settlement: eldest son Lachlan takes over the media empire
The Paper: The "succession battle" of the Murdoch media empire is over, and its media will maintain a conservative stance
