1. James Rupert Jacob Murdoch was born on 13 December 1972 and is an American businessman.
48 Facts About James Murdoch
1. 2.
James Murdoch is the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and the former chief executive officer of 21st Century Fox from 2015 to 2019.
3.
James Murdoch was the chairman and CEO for Europe and Asia of News Corporation until 2013 when it was split into News Corp and 21st Century Fox.
4.
James Murdoch was formerly a director of News Corp and was a member of the office of the chairman.
5.
James Murdoch previously held a non-executive chair at British Sky Broadcasting, in which News Corporation had a controlling minority stake.
6.
James Murdoch was reappointed chairman of the company following its merger with its Italian and German sister companies to form Sky plc.
7.
In 2021, Murdoch set up the Indian arm of his family office, Lupa Systems India, as a joint venture with businessman Uday Shankar.
8.
James Rupert Jacob Murdoch was born on 13 December 1972 at Wimbledon Hospital in Wimbledon, London, England.
9.
James Murdoch is the fourth child of billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch's six children, and the third with Scottish-born journalist and author Anna Murdoch Mann, the others being Elisabeth and Lachlan.
10.
James Murdoch first came to public notice as a 15-year-old intern at the Sydney Daily Mirror but made headlines in the rival The Sydney Morning Herald after he was photographed asleep on a sofa at a press conference.
11.
James Murdoch attended Horace Mann School in New York City and graduated in 1991.
12.
James Murdoch then studied film and history at Harvard University, where he was a member of the Harvard Lampoon.
13.
James Murdoch dropped out of university in 1995 without completing his studies.
14.
In 1996, James Murdoch joined News Corporation and was appointed chairman of Festival Records.
15.
James Murdoch took charge of News Corporation's internet operations, where he invested in a series of ventures, including financial website TheStreet and the short-lived online music site Whammo, with mixed results.
16.
James Murdoch continued to contribute cartoons to US magazine Gear.
17.
James Murdoch is credited with sparking his father's interest in the internet, and he reportedly tried to persuade his father to buy internet company PointCast for US$450 million.
18.
James Murdoch's appointment sparked accusations of nepotism, with some commentators and shareholders feeling that the job had not been opened to outsiders and that Murdoch was too young and inexperienced to run one of the UK's top companies He was an executive vice-president of News Corporation and served on the board of directors of News Datacom and of News Corporation.
19.
In December 2007, James Murdoch stepped down as CEO from BSkyB and was appointed non-executive chairman of the company.
20.
James Murdoch was based at News International's headquarters in Wapping, East London.
21.
In February 2009, James Murdoch was appointed a non-executive director with the British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline.
22.
James Murdoch was executive chairman of News International from 2007 until February 2012.
23.
James Murdoch previously held a non-executive chair at British Sky Broadcasting, in which News Corporation had a controlling minority stake.
24.
In June 2015, his father, Rupert, announced that he would be leaving his position as CEO of 21st Century Fox and James Murdoch would take over the position.
25.
In January 2016, James Murdoch became the chairman of Sky, Britain's subscription broadcaster.
26.
In July 2017, James Murdoch became an independent director on the board of Tesla.
27.
In October 2018, James Murdoch left Sky after Comcast took the majority control of the company.
28.
James Murdoch was a director of News Corp in August 2019.
29.
In 2021, James Murdoch set up the Indian arm of his family office, Lupa Systems India, as a joint venture with businessman Uday Shankar.
30.
On 7 July 2011, James Murdoch announced the closure of the British tabloid newspaper the News of the World in the wake of a phone hacking scandal.
31.
James Murdoch appeared before the same committee on 10 November 2011.
32.
James Murdoch maintained that until late in 2010 he was unaware that more than one "rogue reporter" from the News of the World tabloid had been involved in phone hacking.
33.
On 22 July 2011, Britain's prime minister, David Cameron, said that James Murdoch had "questions to answer in Parliament," a day after former top executives of the News of the World accused the News Corporation executive of giving "mistaken" evidence.
34.
In November 2011, British newspapers reported that James Murdoch had resigned as chairman of News Group Newspapers, the holding company above The Sun, News of the World and Times Newspapers Ltd, itself owner of The Times and The Sunday Times.
35.
James Murdoch's resignation was said to be related to the 12 October 2011 resignation of another Dow Jones executive, Andrew Langhoff, after a company whistleblower revealed an editorial scam and questionable circulation dealings at The Wall Street Journal Europe.
36.
In February 2012, News Corp announced that James Murdoch would be stepping down as executive chairman of its British newspaper arm.
37.
James Murdoch said he would remain deputy chief operating officer of News Corp and focus on the company's international TV business, including continued responsibility for BSkyB.
38.
In May 2012, a highly critical UK Parliamentary report said that James Murdoch "showed wilful ignorance of the extent of phone-hacking" and found him "guilty of an astonishing lack of curiosity" over the issue.
39.
In September 2012, James Murdoch was criticised by the British Office of Communications, which concluded that he "repeatedly fell short of the conduct to be expected of as a chief executive and chairman" and that his lack of action in relation to phone hacking was "difficult to comprehend and ill-judged".
40.
In September 2024, the whole Murdoch family is involved in a court case in Reno, Nevada, in which James, his sister Elisabeth and half-sister Prudence MacLeod are challenging their father's bid to amend the family trust to ensure that his eldest son, Lachlan, retains control of News Corp and Fox Corp, rather than benefiting all of his six children, as is specified in the "irrevocable" terms of the trust.
41.
Rupert James Murdoch is arguing interference by the other siblings would cause a financial loss to Fox, and therefore "in their own best interests if they have their votes taken away from them".
42.
James Murdoch argues that preserving the outlet's conservative editorial stance against interference by the more politically moderate siblings would better protect its commercial value.
43.
James Murdoch is a British citizen by birth and a naturalised US citizen.
44.
Apart from full siblings Elisabeth and Lachlan James Murdoch, he has three half-siblings, including an elder half-sister Prudence, and two younger half-sisters by his father's third marriage to Wendi Deng, Grace and Chloe.
45.
James Murdoch was instrumental in the formation of Sky Procycling and is a keen cyclist himself.
46.
James Murdoch maintains an early morning gym routine and has a black belt in karate.
47.
James Murdoch married Kathryn Hufschmid in 2000, and they have three children: Anneka, Walter, and Emerson.
48.
James Murdoch has donated money to the Clinton Foundation, the nonprofit organisation run by Chelsea, Bill, and Hillary Clinton.