News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch has filed for divorce from his wife, Wendi Deng Murdoch, Deadline Hollywood reports. The filing was made this morning in New York State Supreme Court.
The couple married in 1999, 17 days after Murdoch’s divorce from his second wife was finalized. They have two daughters together Grace, 11, and Chloe, 9. Deng, who is the chief of strategy for MySpace in China, famously slapped a man who attempted to attack Murdoch during his testimony in front of British Parliament committee about phone-hacking at his London newspapers.
Murdoch is overseeing another divorce of sorts: News Corp. is in the process of splitting its publishing and television assets into two publicly traded companies. Shareholders approved the split earlier this week and it will take effect June 28.
The New York Times has more on the marriage split:
A spokeswoman for Mr. Murdoch’s media company, News Corporation, confirmed that Mr. Murdoch had made the filing, which said that the “relationship between husband and wife has broken down irretrievably.” Mrs. Murdoch was informed in advance of Mr. Murdoch’s decision, according to a person close to the family.
As of 3pmET, CNBC, MSNBC, Bloomberg and CNNI have all reported on the split as have two of Murdoch’s British competitors: BBC News and ITV News. Murdoch’s Sky News also reported the story during its 6pm newscast.