Nigerians in London, UK: Rubert Murdock: What makes an 82-year old billionaire file for divorce?

Friday, 14 June 2013

Rubert Murdock: What makes an 82-year old billionaire file for divorce?

My wife is 'tough', Murdoch

Yesterday, it was announced globally that media mogul and boss of News Corp, Rupert Murdoch had filed for divorce from his wife, Wendi Deng because their marriage had
"irretrievably broken down". The divorce papers have been filed at the New York State Supreme Court and that is that.

But what baffles me is why an 85-year old billionaire, said by Forbes to be worth $9.4bn (£6bn) could even think of divorcing? What is the point? As far as I know, most people in their eighties are enjoying their great-grand children, thanking God for a life well spent and waiting for the day they will breath their last. These people are still living a good lives but trying everything in their power not to rock any boats and even if they could, most have hardly any energy left!

Claim to fame

But in comes Rupert Murdoch - a different breed of eighty-something. Mr Murdock became a household name in 2010 when his newspaper called News of the World was accused of hacking the phones of celebrities and those of innocent crime victims and their families. Apart form the NoW, Mr Murdoch is also the chairman of a global media portfolio which includes the Wall Street Journal, television channels such as Fox News and Sky, and the 20th Century Fox movie studio. Impressive.

As for Ms Deng, in 2011, she became famous when she leapt to slap a protester who threw a pie at her husband as he was quizzed by British MPs over phone-hacking in London.

Meeting

Rupert Murdock met his Chinese-born wife, Wendi Deng in 1997 at a cocktail party in Hong Kong when she was working in one of his companies - the Star TV, News Corp's Asian satellite-television operation as an intern. He married her in 1999 two weeks after divorcing his second wife. Was an affair the result of that divorce? No one can say. Ms Wendi grew up in China but moved to the US at 19. The couple have two daughters together, Grace, 11 and Chloe, 9.

At 44, Ms Deng who is a Yale University graduate is 38 years younger than Mr Murdock.

Ms Deng jumps from her seat during a UK parliamentary hearing to slap a prankster who tried to shove a shaving-cream pie into Mr Murdoch face.

Pre-Nup

Mr Murdock and Ms Deng are said to have signed a pre-nuptial agreement and trusts are held for the children. So, in this case, Ms Deng will get some settlement money but nothing like the jaw-breaking $1.7bn Rupert Murdoch paid out to wife No. 2.

The question now is why did 82 year old Murdock decide to send Ms Wendi on her way?
I would call Mr Murdock a wise old man (making all that money and running super successful businesses is no mean feat) but did he think of those little girls aged 11 and 9 for a moment?

According to former employees and of course Mr Murdock, Ms Deng is described as a difficult women to work and live with. In a TV interview in 2012, Mr Murdoch described Wendi as 'beautiful and tough'. Of course, it is not a secret that a 'tough' woman can make any man run miles but a tough woman can also build a man up. With a man as old as Mr Murdoch, could he not have used a little wisdom, humour and patience with a woman 38 younger than him?

Obviously, Mr Murdoch cannot see himself as an old man otherwise he would do things differently. The old adage, 'You are as old as you think' , therefore rings true in this scenario.

So, what's next for Mr Murdock? Will he be marrying wife No. 3 in a couple of weeks or live alone happily, managing and directing his global empire until his ripe old age? I can not see the latter happening what are your thoughts on this? In any case I wish them both well.