News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch Files For Divorce

[RockaFowler]

http://www.deadline.com/2013/06/rupert-murdoch-files-for-divorce/#more-520162

News Corp Chairman/CEO Rupert Murdoch filed for divorce from wife Wendi Deng Murdoch this morning in New York State Supreme Court, Deadline learned at 9 AM. The divorce will not impact Rupert Murdoch’s mega-media holdings, according to insiders, and was deliberately announced for maximum transparency before News Corp spins off its publishing assets into a separately traded company by June 28th. (Murdoch will control both of these entities.) Today’s news comes despite numerous denials for months by PR man Steven Rubenstein and News Corp PR woman Julie Henderson to me as recently as April and May. (“We get this phone call once every 3-6 months,” Rubenstein and Henderson said at the time, pointing to the fact that Wendi and Rupert had recently hosted a dinner at their home for Oscar-winning Twentieth Century Fox director Ang Lee and were going away together on Spring Break.) But legal sources insisted to Deadline that the Murdochs’ divorce was being planned at the same time that a change in Wendi’s behavior towards Rupert was observed during the Academy Awards in February and after.

SNIP

Media moguls routinely divorce, but this is notable only because of possible impact on the Murdoch family succession issue vis a vis News Corp given his age of 82. Rupert and Wendi were married on his yacht in New York Harbor in June 1999 after Murdoch’s ex-wife, received $1.7 billion — $110 million in cash — in what was called the “most expensive” divorce settlement in history. Although at first they broke up amicably after 30 years together, Anna (who has since remarried) was determined to give Murdoch’s older children the right to approve any change in the family trust that controls News Corp, ensuring that they could not be pushed aside for any new children. As part of the divorce from Anna, Rupert agreed that his existing children would inherit control of News Corp via the family trust.

[rdharma]

1. But I thought they were the perfect couple!

[rsmith6621]

2. Probably Why Palin Is Coming Back To FAUX.

....snewwzz

[MADem]

3. What's going to happen to his CHINA enterprises?

She was very helpful to him there--now she could, if he's not sufficiently generous above and over the pre-nup--really screw him up over there.