Rupert Murdoch’s divorce from his wife of 14 years, Wendi Deng Murdoch, is nearly final and the sides are close to amicably resolving the matter, a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.
The pair will appear in a New York court on Wednesday to formalise the agreement, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is personal.
The divorce won’t alter the succession plan for the pair of media companies - 21st Century Fox and the recently spun-off publishing company, News Corp - that 82-year-old Rupert Murdoch controls through a family trust.
That trust benefits his elder children by previous marriages - Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James. All of them except Prudence have an active role in the companies and upon Rupert Murdoch’s death, each will have an equal say in what happens to the roughly 38 per cent voting stock the trust holds in both companies.
pegged Rupert Murdoch and his family’s wealth at US$13.4 billion (HK$104 billion) in September.
Meanwhile, Wendi Deng Murdoch, 44, is not a shareholder, according to the person. Their two school-age children, Grace and Chloe, are beneficiaries of 8.7 million non-voting shares held in a separate trust.
The divorce settlement is largely based on two prenuptial agreements and two “postnuptial” agreements that modified the original agreements, the person said. It is not likely to reach the monetary value of Rupert Murdoch’s previous divorce settlement with his second wife, Anna Torv, the person said.
