Words: Tom Ward
At 92, the news that Rupert Murdoch is set to retire from the boards of his companies Fox and News Corporation isn’t exactly shocking, but it is surprising. Like Logan Roy in Succession, the HBO series heavily modelled on Murdoch’s media empire and it’s testy figurehead, Rupert Murdoch has flirted with retirement on and off for some time now, and the question of who was next in line has never been exactly clear. Now we know; Murdoch has named his son Lachlan – the eldest child of Murdoch and Scottish journalist and author Anna Maria dePeyster – as sole executive in charge of his global empire. But how will he fare, and how did Murdoch Snr get here in the first place?
Born in Melbourne, Australia in 1931, Keith Rupert Murdoch is the second of four children born to Dame Elisabeth and Sir Keith Murdoch, a former war correspondent turned regional newspaper magnate and radio station owner. At school, Rupert Murdoch followed in his father’s footsteps as co-editor of the school journal. He continued with a job at the Melbourne Herald, flirting with socialism during his time at Oxford University where he was reportedly known as ‘Red Rupert’ part in thanks to a bust of Lenin he kept in his room. This would be in stark contrast to his later political leanings. His companies, infused with a brand of right-wing populism, have amassed the power to shape, and at times make or break, presidents and prime ministers,” writes Jim Rutenberg in the New York Times.
The patriarch flanked by sons Lachlan and James Murdoch — who he says he regrets not spending more time with
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