Rupert Murdoch, 92, is engaged to marry (again!)

Right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 92, has gotten engaged - again! That's according to his team, which has confirmed the news to outlets such as CNN and the New York Times.

He is set to marry the Russian scientist Elena Zhukova, 67, which would make her wife number five. According to the New York Times, Zhukova, a molecular biologist, moved to the US from the Soviet Union with her ex-husband Alexander Zhukov, who became a billionaire energy investor.

Image: 7News Melbourne via X

Rupert Murdoch is one of the world's most influential people. He turned his dad’s chain of Australian newspapers into a global media empire and a net worth of $21.7 billion, according to Forbes. His News Corp organization owns hundreds of media outlets, many of which are accused of adopting right-wing slants like Fox News or The Times.

In 2022, he split with his fourth wife, the model and actress Jerry Hall (Mick Jagger’s ex). They married when he was 85, and she was 69. According to Vanity Fair, one of the terms of the divorce settlement was that Hall couldn’t give plot ideas to the writers of HBO’s ‘Succession.’

Shortly after, Rupert was dating Ann Lesley Smith, a 66-year-old conservative radio host with Q-Anon-style politics. But in 2022, they split just two weeks after telling the public they were engaged. Vanity Fair reports that her views were too radical even for Murdoch: “She said Tucker Carlson is a messenger from God, and he said nope.”

Image: "Rupert Murdoch Announces His Engagement To Ann Lesley Smith" 10 News First/Youtube

In September 2023, Murdoch announced that "the right time" had come to relinquish control of his companies, having helmed them for a remarkable 70 years. This news quelled speculations about which of his children would be chosen to lead his media empire. Here is some more of the recent Murdoch family drama!

In the end, the chosen successor is the eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch. As of November 2023, he officially became the chairman of News Corp. Rupert Murdoch, however, remains involved in the companies as the chairman emeritus of News Corp, the economic conglomerate owning hundreds of media entities, including Fox News.

Despite his advanced age, he had no clear plan for what would happen until he dies until very recently, according to several reports. What will happen to his media empire and who will control it was not only a key question for the future of media, but also for his children. Like the HBO show’ Succession,’ it is an incredibly juicy tale…

The 92-year-old has had some serious health issues recently. He collapsed in a white suit at his grandaughter’s wedding after contracting COVID in 2022, and in the years prior, he suffered a broken back, seizes, pneumonia twice, atrial fibrillation, and a torn Achilles tendon, according to Vanity Fair. At 69, he beat prostate cancer. Maybe this is what finally pushed him to choose his successor...

But the old media mogul seems to have no plans of ever quitting work. “I’m sure he’ll never retire,” his mom, who lived until 103, told Vanity Fair in 2010. Indeed, despite "stepping down," Rupert told staff: “I will be watching our broadcasts with a critical eye, reading our newspapers and websites and books with much interest, and reaching out to you with thoughts, ideas, and advice."

The question of who would take over his empire was a bitterly contested question. According to Vanity Fair, he wanted one of his three children for his second marriage to take over, but pitted them against each other, hoping the lifelong Darwinian struggle will produce the strongest heir.

Rupert’s youngest son was a key contender for taking over his father’s business empire and is seen by some as “the smart one,” according to the Wolff biography. He served in top roles in News Corp for 20 years, but lost out to his brother for the head role in 2019. In 2020, he quit News Corp’s board of directors.

In 2017, James publicly embraced liberal views, slamming Donald Trump and donating to Democratic candidates. In 2019, the New Yorker reported that James and his father go through periods where they don’t talk.

From politics to swearing to a love of hip hop and joining the board of ‘Vice’ James is clearly a major inspiration for ‘Succession’s’ Kendall. Actor Jeremy Strong told the New Yorker that he even tied his shoes extremely tight during his audition to play Kendall because that’s what James is said to do.

The second-oldest of the Murdoch clan is widely believed to be the best businessperson of the bunch, according to Vanity Fair. However, she was less in the running for inheriting the empire because she is a woman and Rupert “subscribed to old-fashioned primogeniture.”

After working for the Murdoch companies, Elisabeth quit to create a successful television company outside of News Corp (although with significant help from her dad). She founded the company Shine Group, which was acquired by News Corpo in 2011 for $674 million. Shareholders sued News Corp for “nepotism” and overpaying in the deal. The suit was eventually settled.

But in the end the winner was Lachlan, who shares his father’s right-wing views. However, Rubert's worries about him, according to Vanity Fair, was that Lachlan was too easy-going and happy to enjoy his privileged life to want to take over the empire.

After clashing with Fox News chief Roger Ailes when he was News Corp’s deputy chief operating officer, Lachlan quit and moved back to Sydney, which left James as a shoo-in. However, in 2015, Rupert desperately recruited Lachlan back to the business and set him up as heir apparent, which was a “big slap in the face” to James, according to Vanity Fair.

Lachlan is now the Chairman of News Corp and executive chairman and CEO of Fox Corporation. He was previously co-chair and CEO of Fox, a role he got after 21st Century Fox was sold to Disney in March 2019. In the Dominion voter fraud lawsuit, it was claimed that under his direction, Fox News pushed conspiracy theories they knew weren’t true.

According to a biography by Michael Wolff, Prudence, his eldest child, is the only one from his oldest batch not to be competing for his business. She’s described in New York Magazine as the “Murdoch-family wing nut” and is his only child from his first marriage.

In 1997, Rupert publicly said he only had three children, even though he had four a the time. In a later interview, Prudence said that comment sparked “the biggest row I’ve ever had with my father.”

Photo: Rubert hugging Prudence in 2004

Murdoch has two other children with his third wife, Wendi Deng, who he married when she was 30 and he was 60. Born in 2001 and 2003, they are still young and not reported to be in the running to take over the family business.

Meanwhile, Fox News recently settled a landmark defamation lawsuit for $787 over elections fraud conspiracy theories pushed by the network despite hosts knowing the ideas were fraudulent. The trial unearthed text messages showing the shady inner workings of Fox News and its propaganda.

In his new role, Lachlan will have to tackle the pending lawsuits against Fox, which could further jeopardize the company's reputation. The Murdoch group has been struggling legally due to the newspaper crisis and a series of scandals. For instance, in a second major defamation suit both Rupert and Lachlan are set to be desposed in a case about how Fox News covered the results of the 2020 election, according to the Washington Post. The claim is for $2.7 billion in financial losses.

Expert observers suggest that little will change in the right-wing newscape owned by the Murdochs. “I’ve had a sense that Lachlan is at least as conservative as his father,” Preston Padden, a former Fox executive, told The Washington Post. At the same time, it remains unclear just how far a step back Rupert has actually taken. “In terms of operations, I think he’s still the guy... I don't see this as a big change," another Fox employee said.

The writer of the Vanity Fair cover story on Murdoch said he was “struck by how sad all the Murdochs seem.” He writes that although the story is often compared to Shakespeare’s King Lear, it seems to be more like that of King Midas. “Amassing that wealth required Murdoch to destroy virtually anything he touched: the environment, women’s rights, the Republican Party, truth, decency — even his own family.”