Rupert Murdoch files for divorce from wife No 3 Wendi Deng
Media mogul says relationship with Chinese-born Wendi Deng, who he met in Hong Kong, has been broken for some time
Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire chairman of US-based media group News Corporation and a former owner of the South China Morning Post, has filed for divorce from his third wife, Wendi Deng Murdoch, 16 years after they famously met in Hong Kong.
A News Corp spokesman confirmed last night that Murdoch, 82, had initiated the divorce proceedings, but gave no further details.
The Murdochs, who have two daughters, were married in 1999, weeks after Murdoch's divorce from his previous wife, the Australian novelist Anna Torv.
This will be Murdoch's third divorce.
His first marriage, to Patricia Booker, ended in 1965. Two years later, he married Torv, a reporter at one of his newspapers, and had three children, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James, all of whom have figured prominently at one point in the workings of his company.
Murdoch and mainland-born Deng, 44, were married on board his yacht in New York Harbour in June 1999, two years after they met in Hong Kong. Eighty-two guests attended the private ceremony aboard Morning Glory, which left from Chelsea Piers as a string ensemble played Mozart.