Rupert Murdoch files for divorce
Source: Agencies |
June 14, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Rupert Murdoch, billionaire chairman of News Corporation, has filed for divorce from his third wife, Wendi Deng, who famously defended him from a pie-throwing assailant.
A News Corp spokesman confirmed that Murdoch, 82, initiated the divorce proceedings, without elaborating.
A spokesman for Murdoch said the marriage had been irretrievably broken for more than six months. His wife couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Deng, who is 37 years younger than her husband, made headlines in 2011 for physically defending him when he gave testimony at a UK government hearing over a hacking scandal. She leapt up and lunged at a man who had tried to throw a pie in Murdoch's face.
The Murdochs, who have two daughters, were married in 1999, weeks after Murdoch's divorce from his previous wife, Anna.
This would be Murdoch's third divorce. 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 US$12.1 billion, making him the world's 79th richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The divorce filing comes just days before the split of News Corp into two companies, one for its entertainment assets and the other for its publishing business.
It was not clear whether the divorce and the company split were connected, though analysts said the end of the marriage was unlikely to have an effect on the corporate separation.
Gabelli & Co analyst Brett Harriss said: "Given that it's his third wife, I see it unlikely that he didn't plan for this contingency."
A News Corp spokesman confirmed that Murdoch, 82, initiated the divorce proceedings, without elaborating.
A spokesman for Murdoch said the marriage had been irretrievably broken for more than six months. His wife couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Deng, who is 37 years younger than her husband, made headlines in 2011 for physically defending him when he gave testimony at a UK government hearing over a hacking scandal. She leapt up and lunged at a man who had tried to throw a pie in Murdoch's face.
The Murdochs, who have two daughters, were married in 1999, weeks after Murdoch's divorce from his previous wife, Anna.
This would be Murdoch's third divorce. 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 US$12.1 billion, making him the world's 79th richest person, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The divorce filing comes just days before the split of News Corp into two companies, one for its entertainment assets and the other for its publishing business.
It was not clear whether the divorce and the company split were connected, though analysts said the end of the marriage was unlikely to have an effect on the corporate separation.
Gabelli & Co analyst Brett Harriss said: "Given that it's his third wife, I see it unlikely that he didn't plan for this contingency."
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