James Rupert Jacob Murdoch was born on 13 December 1972, in Wimbledon, London, England, and is a businessman, but perhaps best known as a son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. He is the CEO of 21st Century Fox, and a former chairman of News Corp., Europe and Asia. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is James Murdoch? As of early-2017, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $160 million, mostly earned through a successful career in business which began in the mid-‘90s. He has overseen various assets, including News International, SKY Italia, Sky Deutschland, and STAR TV. As he continues his business endeavors, it is expected that his wealth will also continue to increase.
James Murdoch Net Worth $160 million
James attended Horace Mann School, and would matriculate in 1991. Afterwards, he attended Harvard University, studying film and history. During his time there he worked for the college satirical magazine Harvard Lampoon as editor and a comic strip compiler. In 1995, he dropped out of the university and would back the independent hip hop record label Rawkus Records, which was then bought by News Corporation in 1998.
James had joined News Corporation in 1996, becoming the chairman of Festival Records. He invested in various ventures including the financial website “TheStreet”, and the short lived music site “Whammo”. He was also a contributor to the magazine “Gear”. He helped spark his father’s interest in the internet, and it would lead to buying the company Pointcast for $450 million, a venture that proved unsuccessful as it was later sold to another company for $7 million. In 1999, James controlled more than half the share of Mushroom Records which he merged it with Festival and rebranded it Festival Mushroom Records. However, the company struggled and was later sold, the recording division the Australian division of Warner Music while the publishing division was sold to Michael Gudinski.
In 2000, Murdoch was then assigned to become chief executive and chairman of Star Television, which at the time was having a lot of problems. Three years later, he became the CEO of BSkyB which earned controversy due to his inexperience; he would step down as CEO in 2007 and became a non-executive chairman of the company. He was then given control of News Corporation’s assets in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, controlling holdings such as SKY Italia, News International, and other related assets.
In 2009, he became a non-executive director with GlaxoSmithKline, and five years later joined the board of the advertising start-up True[X] Media.
In 2015, his father announced that he would be soon leave his position as CEO of 21st Century Fox, to be succeeded by James. He became the heir apparent after his brother Lachlan stepped down from his position, and in 2016, James became the chairman of Sky.
For his personal life, it is known that James has been married to Kathryn Hufschmid Murdoch since 2000, and they have three children. The couple launched Quadrivium Foundation in 2013. He is also a black belt in karate and is an avid cyclist.
