James Murdoch | |
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James Murdoch in 2008
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Born |
James Rupert Jacob Murdoch 13 December 1972 Wimbledon, London, England |
Residence | New York City, New York, U.S. |
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Occupation | Chairman of sky plc and 21st Century Fox |
Spouse(s) | Kathryn Murdoch (m. 2000– ) |
Children | Anneka (b. 2003) Walter (b. 2006) Emerson (b. 2008) |
Parent(s) | |
Relatives |
Lachlan Murdoch (brother) Elisabeth Murdoch (sister) Prudence Murdoch (half-sister) Anna Torv (cousin) |
James Rupert Jacob Murdoch (/ˈmɜːrdɒk/; born 13 December 1972) is a British-born Australian-American businessman, the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, the chief executive officer (CEO) of 21st Century Fox, and chairman of Sky plc. He is the former chairman and CEO of News Corp., Europe and Asia, where he oversaw assets such as News International (British newspapers), publisher of The News of the World newspaper, SKY Italia (satellite television in Italy), Sky Deutschland, and STAR TV (satellite television in Asia).
He sits on the News Corporation board of directors and is a member of the office of the chairman. He was made executive chairman of News International in December 2007 He has since resigned from the post. He previously held a non-executive chair at British Sky Broadcasting, in which News Corporation has a controlling minority stake. In April 2012, he was forced to resign as chairman of BSkyB in the wake of the ongoing phone-hacking scandal, in which he was implicated. He was reappointed chairman of the company following its merger with its Italian and German sister companies to form Sky plc.
He was formerly an executive vice-president of News Corporation, the controlling shareholder of BSkyB, and served on the board of directors of News Datacom and of News Corporation.
In May 2012, a highly critical UK Parliamentary report said that Murdoch "showed wilful ignorance of the extent of phone-hacking" and found him "guilty of an astonishing lack of curiosity" over the issue. It went on to say that both Murdoch and his father, Rupert, 'should ultimately be prepared to take responsibility' for wrongdoing at the News of the World and News International.