According to American media reports, the prominent couple, who have been married since 2016, are about to separate. It would be Hall’s second divorce and Murdoch’s fourth. The American’s media empire should remain unaffected.
Rupert Murdoch (left) and Jerry Hall at the Oscars in California on February 24, 2019.
so. / (Reuters) Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and actress Jerry Hall are reportedly looking to divorce, like them The New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. Murdoch, 91, and Hall, 65, were married in March 2016 in a low-key ceremony in central London. The CEO of the media group Fox Corp. and the former supermodel were popular fodder for the tabloids.
Murdoch’s divorce, which would be his fourth, is unlikely to change ownership of the companies in which he is involved, according to the report. These include Fox Corp., the parent company of Fox News Channel, and News Corp., publisher of the Wall Street Journal. Murdoch controls News Corp. and Fox Corp. through a family trust based in Reno, Nevada, which owns approximately 40 percent of the voting stock of both companies.
The billionaire, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at $17.7 billion, has built an expansive media empire with assets around the world. Well-known brands include Fox News Channel in the United States, the tabloid The Sun in the UK and broadcaster Sky News in Australia. In March 2019, Murdoch sold Fox film and television studios and other entertainment businesses to Walt Disney for $71.3 billion.
Bryce Tom, a spokesman for Murdoch, declined to comment on the media report. A representative for Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hall was formerly married to Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger. However, their marriage was annulled in 1999. Murdoch divorced entrepreneur Wendi Deng, with whom he has two daughters, in 2014 after 14 years of marriage. He separated from his second wife, Anna Murdoch Mann, a Scottish journalist, with whom he has three children, in 1999. He divorced his first wife, Patricia Booker, a former flight attendant with whom he has one daughter, in 1966.