Rupert Murdoch files for divorce




News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, 82, has filed for divorce from his third wife, Wendi Deng Murdoch, 44.

“By most accounts the couple had grown apart and spent long stretches away from each other,”

the

New York Times

reported.

The

Times

article said the divorce “could prove … highly contentious.”

The announcement was made the same week that News Corp. shareholders approved a plan to split the media empire into two companies: one holding newspaper assets, which will retain the News Corp. name, and the other, to be called 21st Century Fox, holding film and TV assets.

The

Wall Street Journal

— a News Corp. publication —

noted that

the split “is unlikely to jeopardize the Murdoch family’s control of News Corp.” Most of the family’s voting stock, a block of 38.4%, is held through the Murdoch Family Trust, the

Journal

article said. All of Murdoch’s six children are trust beneficiaries.

- Advertisement -

However, only his children from his first two marriages have the right to appoint trustees for the trust, which means they will control the stock upon Murdoch’s death, the Journal report noted. Wendi Deng Murdoch is not a trust beneficiary.

Murdoch personally holds another 1% of voting stock through a separate trust, according to the

Journal

report.

Grace and Chloe, Murdoch’s two children from his marriage to Wendi Deng Murdoch, have an interest in a block of non-voting shares worth $269 million that are held in a trust known as the GCM Trust, the

Journal

report said.

The

Journal

article said Murdoch’s elder children — Prudence, a daughter from his first marriage; and Elisabeth, Lachlan and James, the children from his marriage to his second wife, Anna — control most of the family’s voting stake in News Corp. because of Murdoch’s 1998 divorce settlement with Anna.

The

Times

article noted that “a marital battle erupted” between Rupert and Wendi Murdoch in 2006, after Rupert Murdoch told TV interviewer Charlie Rose that Grace and Chloe would not have the same voting rights as the older children. “That was the first time Mrs. Murdoch had heard about the arrangement,” the

Times

article said.

Citing anonymous sources close to the family, the

Times

report said that dispute might be “a sign that future battles could ensue” over the division of Murdoch’s net worth. Rupert and Wendi Murdoch have a prenuptial agreement dating from 1999, according to the

Journal.

(Sources:

New York Times,

June 13, 2013;

Wall Street Journal,

June 14, 2013.)

About the Author(s)

This is your 1st of 5 free articles this month.

Introductory offer: Unlimited digital access for $5/month
4
Articles Remaining
Already a subscriber? Please sign in here.

Related Articles

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY

The Family Business newsletter. Weekly insight for family business leaders and owners to improve their family dynamics and their businesses.