- Rupert Murdoch is getting married. Again.
- The billionaire media mogul announced his engagement to Elena Zhukova on Thursday.
- Zhukova, a retired molecular biologist, was previously married to a Russian billionaire.
Rupert Murdoch, the 92-year-old billionaire and chairman emeritus of News Corp., is engaged to be married yet again, according to reports.
The media mogul’s office shared his most recent engagement to Elena Zhukova on Thursday, The New York Times reported.
Murdoch’s impending marriage to Zhukova, a 67-year-old retired molecular biologist, would be his fifth marriage and sixth engagement.
Over the course of his career, Murdoch’s frequent romances and dramatic splits have become commonplace tabloid fodder, appearing in the pages of his own gossip rag’s rivals.
The duo began dating last summer. Their wedding will be held at his California vineyard and estate in June, The Times reported. Invites for the event have already been sent, a representative for Murdoch told the outlet.
Murdoch did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
His most recent engagement comes less than two years after his divorce from Jerry Hall, a former supermodel and actor who was previously in a long-term relationship with Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger. Murdoch and Hall were married for six years before splitting in August 2022.
Between Hall and his most recent bride-to-be, Murdoch was also briefly engaged to Ann Lesley Smith, whom he met soon after splitting from Hall. The pair announced their engagement in March 2023 but called it off about two weeks later.
Murdoch met Zhukova through his third wife, Wendi Deng, with whom he shares two children, The Daily Mail reported in August. Zhukova is twice divorced.
She boasts a prestigious academic career, which included a stint studying diabetes at the University of California Los Angeles as a molecular biologist.
Zhukova came to the US from Moscow near the end of the Soviet Union, The Times reported. She was previously married to Alexander Zhukov, a billionaire energy investor who now lives in London with British citizenship, according to the outlet.
But Zhukova’s billionaire connections don’t stop there. Her daughter, Dasha Zhukova, was married to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich from 2008 to 2017. Dasha Zhukova is now married to the grandson of shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos.
Murdoch’s engagement comes about six months after he announced his retirement from Fox Corp. and News Corp., handing off de facto control of his media empire to his eldest son, Lachlan.
Murdoch was married to his first wife, Patricia Booker, from 1956 to 1967, with whom he has one child. Next, he wed Anna Murdoch Mann. They were together for 32 years and had three children together.
