Wendi Deng Murdoch (simplified Chinese: 邓文迪; traditional Chinese: 鄧文迪; pinyin: Dèng Wéndí; born December 8, 1968)[3] is a Chinese-born, American entrepreneur, investor, movie producer and collector of Chinese contemporary art.[4] [5] She was the third wife of News Corporation chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. [6]

Early life [ edit ]

Wendi Deng Murdoch was born in Jinan, Shandong, and was raised in Xuzhou, Jiangsu. Her birth name was Deng Wenge (simplified Chinese: 邓文革; traditional Chinese: 鄧文革; pinyin: Dèng Wéngé),[7] Wenge meaning "cultural revolution."[8] She changed it in her teens.[9][7][10] She attended Xuzhou First Secondary School (a.k.a. Xuzhou No.1 Middle School). She developed an interest in playing volleyball. While she was in high school, her father relocated to Guangzhou, where he worked at the People's Machinery Works; she and her family remained behind for a short while.



In 1987, she met an American businessman and his wife, Jake and Joyce Cherry, who had temporarily relocated to China and helped build a refrigerator factory. She learned English skills from Joyce. In 1988, she abandoned her medical studies and traveled to the United States on a study permit, with Jake and Joyce Cherry sponsoring her student visa and providing shelter[11] (Jake later became Deng's first husband). She enrolled at California State University, Northridge, where she studied economics and was among the top scoring students.[11][12] She obtained a BA in Economics from California State University at Northridge and an MBA from the Yale University.

Career and public profile [ edit ]

Star TV Hong Kong [ edit ]

Upon graduation from Yale, Deng met Bruce Churchill. At that time, Churchill oversaw finance and corporate development at the Fox TV branch in Los Angeles. He offered Deng an internship at News Corp subsidiary Star TV in Hong Kong, which developed into a full-time junior executive position. Though a junior employee, she took a role in working to plan Star TV's operations in Hong Kong and China and helped to build up Chinese distribution for Star's Channel V music channel.[13] Within one year she became a vice president.[14] Additionally, she investigated interactive TV opportunities for News Digital Systems.[13]

Artsy [ edit ]

In 2009 Murdoch co-founded the online platform Artsy [15] with Carter Cleveland[16] and Dasha Zhukova,[17] which has since become one of the top online places for buying, viewing and learning about art.[18] [14][19] Other investors include Peter Thiel, François Pinault and Eric Schmidt.[17][14]

MySpace [ edit ]

Murdoch was an advisor for MySpace's China operation, prior to the company's sale to Specific Media in June 2011.[20][21][22]

Chinese internet investor [ edit ]

She led the Murdoch family’s Chinese internet investments and helped form business links with China for high-speed video and internet access.[23]

Film production [ edit ]

In 2011, Murdoch co-produced her first film with Florence Sloan,[24] Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, a movie about two footbound children in Qing dynasty China, [25][26] directed by Wayne Wang.[27] The film won the Golden Angel Award at the Chinese American Film Festival.[28]

She also produced the Netflix documentary Sky Ladder[29] which showcased the art of Cai Guo-Qiang[30] and directed by Academy Award-winning director Kevin MacDonald.[31] The film premiered in January 2016 at the Sundance Film Festival.[32] Sotheby’s hosted a private reception and screening of the film in October 2016 before the film’s Netflix debut.[33]

Other investments [ edit ]

Murdoch invested in tech start-ups including Oscar, Snapchat, Uber and Warby Parker.[16] [14]

Board memberships [ edit ]

Personal life [ edit ]

When Deng was living with Jake and Joyce Cherry during Deng's studies in the United States, Joyce Cherry discovered her husband, Jake, was having an affair with Deng, who was 30 years his junior, and demanded Deng leave the house. Jake Cherry soon followed and moved in with Deng,[11] and the two married in 1990.[41] Their marriage lasted 2 years 7 months before they were legally divorced,[11] but Jake would later explain they stayed together for only four or five months, when he learned that Deng was spending time with David Wolf, a man closer to her age.[41] Nonetheless, she had been able to secure a green card through her marriage to Cherry.[41][11]

In 1997, she met Rupert Murdoch, who is 37 years her senior, while working as an executive at the Murdoch-owned Star TV in Hong Kong.[14] They married in 1999[citation needed] on board his yacht "Morning Glory",[42] less than three weeks after the finalization of his divorce from his second wife, Anna Murdoch.[43][44] The couple had two children, Grace (born 2001) and Chloe (born 2003). Tony Blair is Grace Murdoch's godfather.[45] In June 2013, Murdoch filed for divorce from Deng, citing irreconcilable differences.[6]

On July 19, 2011, Deng counter-attacked Jonathan May-Bowles (comedian Jonnie Marbles) after he attempted to throw a pie at her husband while he was giving testimony before a British parliamentary committee considering the News International phone hacking scandal.[46] May-Bowles was subsequently sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment.[47]

On February 5, 2014, The Daily Telegraph published a report claiming Deng had a crush on Tony Blair, leading to her divorce from Murdoch. The report stated that Murdoch began to hear rumours about his wife in 2012 and is said to have interviewed staff members at his various homes to ask them what they had seen. According to the newspaper, Murdoch learned that Blair had visited Deng at Murdoch's Carmel ranch on more than one occasion. Blair allegedly spent the weekend of April 27, 2013, with Deng at the property. Other sources are quoted as placing Blair and Deng at The Carlyle in New York, on a private yacht, and at Murdoch's home in London.[48] An article in The Economist claimed that as a result of Murdoch's suspicion that Blair had an affair with Deng, he ended his long-standing association with Blair in 2014.[49]

In early 2018, The Wall Street Journal, a newspaper owned by Murdoch's News Corp, published a story suggesting that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump[50], close acquaintances of Deng, were warned by US intelligence agencies that Deng may be working as a Chinese spy.[51][52]

See also [ edit ]