• Faith: Christian - Catholic
• Career: Businessman
• Birthday:  March 11, 1931

Considered by many to be one of the most influential media moguls in history, Keith Rupert Murdoch is a global business magnate who has created millions of storylines, along with some of his own.

Born in Victoria, Australia, into a wealthy home, Murdoch learned about the media business first-hand from his father, Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch, who was a regional war correspondent during World War I and a regional newspaper magnate, owning two papers in Adelaide, South Australia and a news radio station.

Growing up, Rupert Murdoch was co-editor of the school’s official journal, The Conan, and editor of his student journal, If Revived. Media was going to be a part of Murdoch’s career, as he excelled as a storyteller and writer. Yet, it wasn’t until his university days in Oxford that politics entered his zeal for correction and clarity.

There, he was an active member and secretary of the conservative Oxford University Labour Party. Subsequently, he also managed the University’s Student Publications. After his father died, when Rupert was 21, he took over the family business. This set Rupert forward like nothing else could for his trajectory and keen understanding of the media business.

In 1969, Murdoch, under the banner of his father’s publishing arm, acquired his first British newspaper, News of the World. That’s where he learned more about generating leads, increasing circulation, and telling human-interest stories that mattered to the general public. Later, he would acquire London’s The Sun and have great success.

By 1973, he set his sights on the American journalism frontier and acquired The San Antonio News (later the Express-News). From there, the magnate acquired: New York Post (1976), Boston Herald (1982) and TV Guide (1988). This prompted him to found the global media holding company, News Corporation Ltd., which was the home of his FOX News and Entertainment Empire.

Rupert Murdoch’s Religious Beliefs

For a man who understood the power of the written and broadcast word, Rupert Murdoch also knew how to keep most things private. This included his religious beliefs, which are scarce in the media in a legal and published form.

In 2023, The Daily Beast had a global incident when it wrongly claimed Murdoch was Catholic. During some of his noted court proceedings in front of Congress and Parliament, the topic came up during the Leveson Inquiry, which was a judicial exploration into the ethics of the UK Press.

From the dais, Murdoch spoke of “strong Presbyterian roots” and how he was still connected to the Presbyterian Church. Murdoch, who is of English, Scottish and Irish descent, shares that he hails from a long line of Calvinist preachers.

However, during his second marriage to Scottish journalist Anna Torv, Murdoch converted to being Catholic.