Rupert Murdoch prepares to hand over his media empire

As the mogul turns 90, investors and offspring get ready for a battle over its future

Mar 13th 2021

BIRTHDAY PARTIES in pandemics are dreary, even for billionaires. But Rupert Murdoch’s 90th, which he celebrated on March 11th, should at least have been less stressful than his 80th. Back then British detectives were burrowing into a subsidiary of his firm, News Corporation, then the world’s fourth-largest media company, for evidence that its journalists had hacked phones and bribed police. Several convictions later, and after the closure of the 168-year-old News of the World, Mr Murdoch was hauled before a British parliamentary inquiry on what he called “the most humble day of my life”.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Next up”