Media mogul Rupert Murdoch marries for fifth time

LOS ANGELES — Media mogul Rupert Murdoch walked down the aisle for a fifth time on Saturday, exchanging wedding vows with Elena Zhukova at his California vineyard.

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Murdoch, 93, who retired from the boards of Fox and News Corporation last year, was married at Moraga, his Tuscan-style estate in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, The New York Times reported.

Zhukova, 67, was born in Russia and is a retired molecular biologist, according to The Associated Press. The couple became engaged in March, Fox News reported. They had been dating for several months before their engagement was announced, according to the news outlet.

Notable guests caught by photographers as they made their way into the ceremony included New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Robert Thomson, the CEO of News Corporation, the Times reported.

Murdoch, who founded Fox News, announced in September that he was transitioning from his roles at Fox and News Corp, Fox News reported. His son, Lachlan, became chairman of both corporations while the elder Murdoch became chairman emeritus.

Murdoch’s fifth marriage comes after he called off an engagement to Ann Lesley Smith, a conservative talk show host and retired dental hygienist, the Times reported.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Murdoch married his first wife, flight attendant Patricia Booker, in 1956. They had one child, Prudence, and were divorced in 1967.

In April 1967, Murdoch married Anna Torv, a journalist from Scotland. The marriage lasted more than 30 years and produced three children, according to the newspaper -- Elisabeth, James and Lachlan.

Seventeen days after his divorce from Torv in 1999, Murdoch married entrepreneur Wendi Deng, the Los Angeles Times reported. They had two children, Grace and Chloe, and were divorced in 2013.

In 2016, Murdoch married model Jerry Hall, according to the newspaper. They divorced in 2022.

Murdoch began his media career in newspapers in the 1950s and shortly after began to expand into television. He established News Corporation in 1980 and bought Twentieth Century Fox five years later. In 1986, he bought several television stations in the U.S. and launched the Fox Broadcasting Company.

The Fox News Channel debuted in 1996.

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