Rupert Murdoch turns 93 today (March 11). Once credited as the inventor of the modern tabloid, the retired chairman of News Corp and Fox Corporation has over the decades built a media empire that owns such iconic brands as FOX (FOXA) News, The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal. Murdoch has an estimated net worth of $19 billion, making him the 99th wealthiest person in the world on Forbes’ rich list.
A native of Australia, Murdoch inherited a chain of newspapers from his father, Keith Murdoch, a former war correspondent, in 1952 at age 22. In the 1950s and 1960s, Murdoch acquired a slew of newspapers in Australia and New Zealand and later expanded his media empire into the U.K. Murdoch is best known for his focus on dramatic headlines, as well as his eye for investing in media.
Murdoch’s personal life is a story in itself. The billionaire has been married four times and just got engaged for the sixth time. Murdoch’s office said last week on March 7 that he has been engaged to Elena Zhukova, a 67-year-old retired molecular biologist whom Murdoch started dating last summer.
Here are Murdoch’s top quotes about life, leadership and the business of media:
On news and mass media:
- “If you’re in the media, particularly newspapers, you are in the thick of all the interesting things that are going on in a community, and I can’t imagine any other life that one would want to dedicate oneself to.” —Interview with The Australian in 2019
- “Content is not just king — it is the emperor of all things electronic. We are on the cusp of a digital dynasty from which our company and our shareholders will profit greatly.” —News Corp (NWSA) conference call in 2010
- “Much of what passes for quality on British television is no more than a reflection of the values of the narrow elite which controls it.” —MacTaggart lecture in 1989
- “I think the question of the power of newspaper proprietors can be greatly overdone. We have more responsibility than power.”—Interview with ABC News in 1967
On leadership:
- “I’m a permanently curious person. I probably waste my time being curious about things that have got nothing to do with the business sometimes. What keeps me alive, certainly, is curiosity.” —Interview with The Guardian in 2016
- “Successful workers will be those who embrace a lifetime of learning. Those who don’t will be left behind.” —Op-ed for The Wall Street Journal in 2015
- “Over the years, I have become accustomed to the noise and negativism of the naysayers.” —News Corp annual report in 2012
- “If the head man in a company is not working 12 hours a day, doing things, taking risks, but also standing with his people in the trenches at the most difficult of times, then the company loses something.” —Interview with The New York Times in 1990
- “The only people who claim I didn’t give them enough freedom are the people who didn’t know how to use it.” —on whether he interferes with his editors in an interview with ABC News in 1967
On business:
- “The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.” —Interview with Fox Business Network in 2016
- “Our reputation is more important than the last hundred million dollars.” —Testimony before the British Parliament’s Culture, Media, and Sport Committee in July 2011
- “Monopoly is a terrible thing, till you have it.”– Speech during the 2009 World Economic Forum
- “When you’re a catalyst for change, you make enemies, and I’m proud of the ones I’ve got.” —Interview with Vanity Fair in 2008