Rupert Murdoch, 93, marries fifth wife biologist Elena Zhukova, 67, at news tycoon’s Los Angeles vineyard wedding
Rupert Murdoch has got married for the fifth time after tying the knot with Elena Zhukova in a secretive ceremony at his Californian estate.
The 93-year-old media mogul held his nuptials with the biologist at the vineyard in his Bel Air estate, Moraga, on Saturday.
The News Corp founder, who is worth an estimated £16billion, had announced his engagement to Zhukova in March this year after less than nine months of dating.
Images released today showed the couple posing for photos in a garden following the ceremony, his 67-year-old spouse holding a bouquet of white flowers.
The event was attended by high-powered guests including New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and News Corp chief Robert Thompson.
Rupert Murdoch and his fifth wife Elena Zhukova pose for photos after their wedding at his California vineyard on Saturday
The newly-wed couple were seen laughing as they posed sat in a garden after the ceremony had taken place
The wedding ceremony took place three months after their engagement was announced. Pictured: Murdoch and Zhukova sit on an outdoor chair while holding drinks
Pictures taken from outside the venue showed workers transporting buckets of flowers in the direction of the estate, while there was also an increased security presence for the big day.
It is the fifth time the media baron has tied the knot, with his most recent marriage to Jerry Hall lasting from 2016 to 2022.
The couple are believed to have started dating last summer after his engagement to former police chaplain and vineyard owner Ann Lesley Smith was called off just two weeks after it was announced.
Murdoch and Zhukova grew close and were spotted cruising the Mediterranean on a summer holiday last August.
She is the mother of Dasha Zhukova, a Russian socialite who is famous for her marriage to Russian oligarch and former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich.
She was previously married to Alexander Zhukov, a billionaire energy investor, and is a molecular biologist who specialises in diabetes research.
She has lived in America for over three decades after leaving Russia in 1991 with her daughter.
Before retiring she worked at the medical research unit in UCLA. Sources said she spends a lot of time with her grandchildren by Dasha and Roman.
Murdoch is reported to have met Zhukova through his third wife, Wendi Deng, with the pair being firm friends in New York.
A source told the Mail earlier this year: ‘They met through Wendi and Dasha.’
Murdoch’s ex-wife Wendi Deng is reported to have been the person who introduced the pair. Pictured: Deng seen at the wedding on Saturday
Robert Kraft arrived at Rupert Murdoch’s wedding with his wife Dana Blumberg on Saturday
News Corp chief executive Robert Thompson dutifully attended his boss’ wedding with his wife Wang Ping, who arrived in an eye-catching yellow floral shirt over green dress
Numerous guests arrived for the ceremony at Murdoch’s private vineyard in Bel Air over the weekend
Guests mingle at the spot where they leave their cars with valets and walk inside the estate
Guests get out of luxury cars as they arrived at Murdoch’s imposing Bel Air estate, Moraga
Staff in blue vests help guests make their way to the celebration after their arrival
Guests all arrived in luxury cars with brands including Audi, Bentley, Jaguar, Lexus, and a Chevy SUV
Pictures show workers lugging cartloads and buckets of flowers up a flagstone path in the direction of the estate before the ceremony
The wedding took place at Murdoch’s sprawling Bel Air vineyard (pictured), which he bought for £17.5million in 2013
Murdoch married his first wife, former flight attendant Patricia, in 1956, however the pair split in 1967, nine years after the birth of their only child, Prudence.
That same year, he tied the knot with his second wife, Anna, a Glasgow-born journalist to whom he was married for 32 years, before their divorce in 1999.
As part of their divorce settlement, Anna was awarded £1.3billion, including £7.8million in cash, according to CNBC.
Murdoch went on to marry Wendi just 17 days after he divorced second wife Anna. At the time of their wedding Murdoch was 68, while Wendi was just 30 years old.
That marriage lasted 14 years, before it was announced that the pair were divorcing, with a News Corp spokesperson revealing in June 2013 that their union had been ‘irretrievably broken for more than six months.’
Hall and Murdoch tied the knot in London in March 2016 in a very low-key ceremony at Spencer House, which overlooks Green Park, after a whirlwind five-month romance.
Their time together was dramatically ended in 2022 when Murdoch sent Hall, who is 25 years his junior, an email telling her their marriage was over and that he wanted a divorce.
Sources said that Hall had hoped to inherit Moraga – the vineyard where his most recent marriage took place over the weekend – before the shock divorce.
Murdoch appeared to move on quickly from the breakdown of their relationship, getting together with Ann Lesley Smith, a former police chaplain and the widow of late country music star Chester Smith.
The pair appeared besotted with each other and announced their engagement in March 2023, just six months after their first met and less than a year after his divorce from Hall was finalised.
Murdoch and Zhukova were pictured enjoying a summer holiday in the Mediterranean together last year
Murdoch met Zhukova (pictured) through his third wife. Zhukova will become the mogul’s fifth spouse
Elena Zhukova (centre) pictured with her daughters Katya (left) and Dasha (right) at the International Art Biennale in Venice in 2011
‘I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love – but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy,’ he told The New York Post at the time of his previous engagement.
However, he then announced less than two weeks later that the engagement was off, and was soon pictured with Zhukova.
He has six children from his previous marriages: daughter Prudence MacLeod, now 66, with his first wife Patricia Booker, daughter Elisabeth, now 55, and sons Lachlan, now 52, and James, now 51, with his second wife Anna Mann, and daughter Grace, now 23, and Chloe, now 21, who he shares with Deng.
Murdoch and his fourth wife, former supermodel Hall, did not have any children together during their six-year marriage.
Murdoch announced that he was stepping down as chairman of Fox and News Corp. in September.
His eldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, took over as chair of News Corp. and continued as executive chair and CEO of Fox News parent Fox Corp.
It was reported at the time of his engagement to Zhukova that the ceremony would be held in June at Moraga, where Murdoch intends to most of his time in retirement alongside his fellow retiree wife.
After Murdoch announced the surprising news that he would be stepping down as the chairman of Fox. Corp. and News Corp, DailyMail.com confirmed that he would be focusing most of his time on making world-class wines at his vineyard.
Now that the nuptials are both retired, the pair plan on spending their time at the Bel Air estate, where Murdoch hopes to develop an internationally competitive winery.
But unlike the billions made by the media companies money-conscious Murdoch ran, the winery has not been a huge money-maker.
Murdoch was married to Patricia Booker for nine years before the couple divorced in 1967, the same year he tied the knot with his second wife
The media mogul was married to his second wife Anna (pictured) for 32 years before their divorce in 1999
Just 17 days after he divorced Anna, Murdoch would marry his third wife, Wendi Deng (pictured)
His most recent marriage was with model Jerry Hall (pictured) from 2016 to 2022, which was shocking ended by Murdoch via email
He then had a whirlwind romance with former police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith (pictured) which then abruptly ended after he called off their engagement just two weeks after it was announced
‘He wants Moraga to be a big part of his legacy,’ a Murdoch insider told DailyMail.com. ‘He sees it as his responsibility to make sure the property has a secure future and that more people get to know the wine.’
‘He wanted to step down while he knew he had time and enough energy to focus on other things, especially Moraga,’ the source added.
The business loses between £1.5million to £2.3million a year due to taxes, property prices, and since it’s located in a residential neighbourhood with homes surrounding it all sides, the number of vines cannot be increased to boost production.
Fortunately, the wine already has a cult following and Murdoch intends to capitalise on this.
A self-professed oenophile, his goal is for ‘wine lovers everywhere to have the opportunity to understand the unique nuances of our specific soil at Moraga and how that translates into the amazing wines we create,’ according to the Moraga website.
‘We are not Napa nor Bordeaux,’ Murdoch explains. ‘We are Moraga and deserve a place a the table with the rest of the world’s top wines.’