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Samantha Delouya
- Elon Musk was recently seen sitting between billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his daughter Elisabeth.
- She has said she has no ambition to take over her father's media empire, though some have speculated otherwise.
- See more about Elisabeth Murdoch's life and career.
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The complicated dynamics of billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch's family have long been the subject of public intrigue. The name Murdoch is synonymous with influence and media, and the family empire includes Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London, and other news organizations around the globe.
The family's $18.5 billion fortune, per Forbes, dates back to a chain of Australian newspapers that Rupert Murdoch inherited from his father.
Murdoch, who is 91, is expected to leave the company in the hands of one of his children. His two eldest sons, James and Lachlan, have long been considered Murdoch's likeliest successors, while their older sister, Elisabeth, has kept a lower profile, often operating behind the scenes. Lachlan Murdoch, though, is the only one of the three still in his father's organization. He's currently the co-chairman of News Corp and the CEO of Fox.
However, a recent sighting of Elisabeth Murdoch with Elon Musk in her father's box at the Super Bowl has reignited speculation of who may gain control of the Murdoch empire.
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Elisabeth has had a successful career in media, occasionally working within the family business but leaving it for long periods at a time. In true nepo-baby fashion, though, her last name and connections gave her a significant leg up.
See more about Elisabeth's fabulous life as she climbed the ranks in the media world:
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Murdoch moved to Manhattan at the age of six when her father took over the New York Post. She attended the private all-girls Brearly School on the Upper East Side. She then studied at Vassar College, where she met her first husband, Elkin Pianim.
Source: Independent
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She joined her father's empire shortly after college, beginning her career at a local Fox station in Utah and then working at his cable TV unit, FX.
Source: The New Yorker, The New York Times
At 26 years old, with just a few years of TV management experience, she purchased two northern California television stations: KSBW in Salinas and KSBY in San Luis Obispo. She ran the stations with her then-husband.
Source: Independent, Los Angeles Times
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Their management style apparently made waves at the local stations, resulting in high employee turnover. However, after just one year of ownership, Murdoch sold the two stations for a $12 million profit.
Source: Independent
At just 27, Rupert Murdoch placed his daughter as general manager of broadcasting at BSkyB in London.
Source: Independent
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In 2001, Murdoch married her second husband, PR executive and great-grandson of Sigmund Freud, Matthew Freud.
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Murdoch has two children with her first husband, Elkin Pianim, and two children with her second, Matthew Freud. Murdoch and Freud would eventually divorce in 2014.
Source: Guardian, The Hollywood Reporter
After 11 years away from the family empire, Murdoch was brought back into the fold when her father's company, News Corp, acquired Shine for $663 million.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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Elisabeth Murdoch remained at the newly acquired Shine for three more years but exited after the production company merged with two others: Endemol and Core Media. The merger created the world's largest independent TV producer.
Source: Variety
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In 2012, she publicly dropped out of the race against her siblings to take over her father's media empire. "I really harbor absolutely no ambition for that top job," she said at the Edinburgh International Television Festival that year.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Aside from running media businesses, Murdoch has also dabbled in venture investing, setting up Freelands Ventures, an early-stage VC fund. Her investments include a number in media, publishing, and entertainment companies, such as Artists, Writers & Artisans, an entertainment studio and comic book publisher founded by Marvel alumni.
Source: Insider, The Guardian
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In 2017, Murdoch married her third husband, contemporary artist Keith Tyson. Bottles of champagne reportedly costing more than $1,200 each were served at the extravagant nuptials.
Source: Insider
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In 2019, Rupert Murdoch sold several of his assets to Disney, including much of Fox's studio, FX, and National Geographic Networks for $71 billion. Elisabeth Murdoch reportedly took home roughly $2 billion from the transaction.
Source: CNBC, Insider
That same year, she decided to dip her toes back into the world of media, cofounding the production company Sister. Sister produced the hit HBO miniseries "Chernobyl."
Source: Sister
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Murdoch recently announced that she would be setting up a new London school designed to get people from different backgrounds into the film industry, tackling nepotism.
Source: Reuters
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