- Australian-born billionaire Rupert Murdoch, 87, helms a media empire made up of newspapers like The Wall Street Journal, television networks like Fox News, and a handful of other publications across the world.
- Murdoch inherited his very first newspaper from his father, who was a war reporter turned publisher.
- Bloomberg estimates his net worth to be $19 billion, as of March 2019.
Rupert Murdoch's name is one synonymous with media, but it took decades to build his sprawling empire.
He owns dozens upon dozens of newspapers spanning 3 continents, founded the Fox network — responsible for revolutionizing cable television to what it is today — in the 1980s, and has a net worth $19 billion. That makes him the 47th-richest person in the world.
Forbes describes his wealth as self-made, but Murdoch has been interested in media ever since his dad, Keith, left him a string of Australian newspapers when he was just 22 years old.
He then grew his network of papers into a multibillion-dollar domain, cementing his name as a magnate in the industry. The 87-year-old plans to do the same as his father — Murdoch is handing off the reigns of 21st Century Fox, among his other corporations, to his sons to continue the tradition.
Over the span of his five-decade career, Murdoch has been in four marriages and has six kids. He's also been the subject of variety of scandals, most prominently when his UK-based paper News of the World was forced to shutter after it was found to have hacked the phone of a slain teenager.
Take a look at how Murdoch got his start, the deals he has made, and the growth of his empire.
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Rupert Murdoch graduated from Oxford University, then known as Worcester College, in 1952.
His father, Sir Keith Murdoch, a war reporter turned publisher, died the same year, and Murdoch went back to Australia to take over the family business at the age of 22.
Source: BBC News
Murdoch, seen here in 1960, inherited a chain of Australian newspapers from his father. According to Bloomberg, Murdoch embedded himself in all matters of production, from writing copy to managing the printer and redesigning page layouts.
He especially made it a priority to include "lurid stories and scandals," which made paper sales boom. He began buying other publications, including The Daily Mirror and the Perth Sunday Times.
Source: Bloomberg
Murdoch then went on to found Australia's first nationwide newspaper, The Australian, in 1964. Unlike Murdoch's other papers, it is not a tabloid.
Murdoch then founded News Corporation, known as News Corp, which owns more than 170 papers in Australia.
Source: BBC News
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