NEW YORK CITY: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his estranged third wife Wendi Deng have agreed on an “amicable” divorce settlement, the couple announced in New York Wednesday.
Murdoch, 82, and Deng, 44, issued the statement after attending a brief hearing before New York judge Ellen Gesmer.
The couple, who were married in 1999, made no comment after the 10-minute hearing, and the terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
“We are pleased to announce that we have reached an amicable settlement of all matters relating to our divorce,” the statement said.
“We move forward with mutual respect and a shared interest in the health and happiness of our two daughters. We will not comment on this any further.”
Murdoch had filed for divorce in June, saying his marriage with Deng, nearly 40 years his junior, was “irretrievably broken.”
The couple have two daughters, Grace Helen, 11, and Chloe, 10.
Several US media reports said that as part of the settlement Deng would keep her luxury apartment on 5th Avenue in New York, valued at $44 million.
The couple had signed a pre-nuptial agreement ensuring that Murdoch’s grip on his media empire would not be affected by any possible break-up.
The Australian-American tycoon’s media empire was split into two in June:
News Corp, for print media, and 21st Century Fox, for television and cinema.
Deng and the couple’s two daughters have no voting rights in the company, in contrast to Murdoch’s four other children from his two previous marriages.
Murdoch, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at around $13.4 billion, owns some of the most famous newspaper titles in the world, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and British dailies The Times and The Sun.
His British newspaper arm was embroiled in a phone-hacking scandal which erupted in 2011, ultimately leading to the closure of best-selling Sunday tabloid The News of the World.
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