NEED TO KNOW
- Rupert Murdoch has six children with three different women.
- His eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, will take over his media empire.
- There was a long-running succession dispute between his children.
- Rupert Murdoch retired in 2023.
Melbourne-born Rupert Murdoch is a media mogul and businessman who has been in the news industry since the ‘50s.
In the last seven decades, the 95-year-old has acquired various newspapers in Australia, New Zealand, the US, and the United Kingdom.
He was the former Chairman and CEO of 21st Century Fox, the Chairman of Fox Corporation, and the Executive Chairman of News Corp before he handed over to his son, Lachlan, upon his retirement.
His media empire is reportedly worth $66 billion and was at the centre of a succession battle before the dispute ended with Lachlan taking control in September 2025.
Keep reading for everything you need to know about the succession row and his six children.
Who is the heir to Rupert Murdoch’s fortune?
Rupert’s children were embroiled in a long-running dispute over the future of the Murdoch empire, which includes Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and The Times in the UK.
In September, News Corp confirmed that a deal had finally been reached, with Rupert’s eldest son, Lachlan, 54, taking control of the business.
Rupert and Lachlan had tried to change the terms of the family trust that gave four of his children – Lachlan, James, Elisabeth, and Prudence – equal voting rights upon his death.
Under the deal, Lachlan has taken control, while Prudence, Elisabeth, and James have been bought out of their stakes in News Corp and Fox Corp.
The trio will receive an estimated $1.1 billion for their shares in the family business. They will also be beneficiaries of a trust that will house the proceeds of the sale.
Rupert’s two youngest children, Chloe and Grace, will join Lachlan in a new family trust, which will hold stakes in Fox Corporation and News Corp.
The succession battle became so notable that it was purportedly one of the inspirations behind the hit TV series Succession, starring Sarah Snook and Brian Cox.
How many wives and children does Rupert Murdoch have?
Rupert has been married four times previously – first to Patricia Booker, with whom he welcomed his first child, daughter Prudence, 68.
He then welcomed three more children – Elisabeth, 57, Lachlan, 54, and James, 53, with his second wife, Anna Murdoch-Mann.
Rupert got married for a third time to Wendi Deng, with whom he shares Grace, 25, and Chloe, 23, while his fourth marriage was to Jerry Hall, but they didn’t have any children together.
On June 1st, 2024, Rupert married his fifth wife, Elena Zhukova, at the media mogul’s Californian winery Moraga in the elite Los Angeles suburb of Bel Air.
Scroll on for everything you need to know about his six adult children.
Who are Rupert Murdoch’s children?
Prudence MacLeod
The eldest child, Prudence (also known as Prue), 68, is the only child from his first marriage to Patricia Booker.
Her parents divorced when she was nine, and a year later, she moved to London with Rupert.
Prudence has had several roles within News Corp over the years, but reportedly is on the board of Times Newspapers Ltd.
She’s been married twice, once in 1986 to London hedge fund manager Crispin Odey – in which they divorced the year after.
She has three children with her second Alasdair MacLeod, whom she married in 1989.
The couple currently live in Sydney.
Elisabeth Murdoch
Elisabeth, 57, is Rupert’s first child with his second wife, Anna Torv.
Named after her grandmother (Rupert’s mother), Elisabeth grew up in New York.
She’s held a number of jobs at her father’s company, but she also had her own thing going on.
In 2001, she launched an independent television company, Shine (The Biggest Loser, Masterchef) – which was bought by Rupert’s media company in 2011 as part of a deal for $674 million, according to Variety.
She then joined the board of News Corp but left several years later to launch her own entertainment production company, Sister, whose titles include Chernobyl and Broadchurch.
Elisabeth has four children – two with her first husband, Elkin Pianim, and two with her second husband, Matthew Freud.
She divorced Matthew in 2014 and is now married to her third husband, British artist Keith Tyson.
Lachlan Murdoch
Lachlan is Rupert’s first son. The 54-year-old grew up in New York and studied philosophy at Princeton University.
He worked for Rupert, managing newspapers across the US and Australia. In 1997, he was named the deputy chief operating officer at News Corp.
In 2005, Lachlan moved to Australia to start Illyria, a company that revived radio stations that were failing to help bring them back to life.
According to Bloomberg, he went back to the family business in 2014 as the non-executive co-chairman, and by 2019, Lachlan became the chairman and CEO at Fox.
In 2023, Rupert announced him as his successor. He is the current chair of NewsCorp.
Lachlan has three children with his wife, Australian model Sarah O’Hare.
James Murdoch
James has made a name for himself as Rupert’s liberal child, compared to the rest of the more conservative family.
The 53-year-old was notably outspoken about the family’s private legal battle.
He dropped out of Harvard University to start his own record label, Rawkus Records, where he worked with hip-hop artists such as Eminem.
In 1998, News Corp. acquired the label, and James worked for Rupert for the next two decades.
In 2011, he was announced as the COO of News Corp., and then in 2015 as the CEO of 21st Century Fox.
He publicly left in 2020 after disagreements with the company, and since then, there have been reports that James is on a mission to “destroy” Fox News.
James has three children with his wife, Kathryn.
Grace Murdoch
Grace is Rupert’s first daughter with Wendi Deng and made a glamourous appearance on the red carpet at the Met Gala in both 2024 and 2025 with her mum.
Bornw on November 19, 2001, she grew up in New York. In September 2024, it was reported that she was studying history at Yale University.
During that same year, Grace was an intern at Goldman Sachs with her younger sister Chloe.
E Financial Careers announced that Grace was a summer analyst in the consumer retail investment banking team.
Chloe Murdoch
Chloe is Rupert’s youngest daughter, and second with Wendi Deng.
Born in 2003, she up in New York with Grace, and in September 2024, it was reported that she attended Stanford University.
Chloe leads a private life and doesn’t have any public social media accounts.
In 2024, Grace was an intern at Goldman Sachs with her older sister.
E Financial Careers announced that Chloe joined the firm as a summer analyst in the technology, media, and telecoms investment banking team.
