Wendi Deng Murdoch (; born Deng Wen Di; December 5, 1968) is a Chinese-born American entrepreneur, investor, movie producer, media mogul, and collector of Chinese contemporary art.

Early life and education

Wendi Deng was born in Jinan, Shandong and raised in

Xuzhou Xuzhou (徐州), also known as Pengcheng (彭城) in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China. The city, with a recorded population of 9,083,790 at the 2020 census (3,135,660 of which lived in the built-up area ma ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

. Her birth name was Deng Wen Di, (), Deng, the family name, and Wen Di meaning "

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

". She has two older sisters, and a brother, and both of her parents were engineers. When she was a teen she changed her given name to "Wendi". She attended Xuzhou First Secondary School (a.k.a. Xuzhou No.1 Middle School). She became a competitive

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

player. While she was in high school, her father relocated to

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, where he was a factory director at the People's Machinery Works; she and her family remained in Xuzhou until they joined their father a short time later. At the age of 16, she was enrolled at the

Guangzhou Medical College Guangzhou Medical University (GMU, Chinese: 广州医科大学), formerly known as Guangzhou Medical College, is a Chinese medical school located in Guangzhou, China. History It was established in 1958. The internship program began in 2013. ...

. In 1988, she left medical school and went to the United States on a study permit. She enrolled at California State University, Northridge, where she studied economics and was among the top scoring students. She obtained a BA in Economics from California State University at Northridge and an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

Career and public profile

Star TV Hong Kong

Upon graduation from Yale in 1996, Deng met Bruce Churchill. At that time, Churchill oversaw finance and

corporate development Corporate development refers to the planning and execution of strategies to meet organizational objectives. The kinds of activities falling under corporate development may include management team recruitment, phasing in or out of markets or produc ...

at the Fox TV branch in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. He offered Deng an internship at News Corp subsidiary

Star TV Star TV may refer to: * E! (Canadian TV channel) (formerly Star!), a Canadian entertainment news channel * Las Estrellas (Spanish for The Stars), the Mexican television network * Estrella TV (Spanish for Star TV), the American Spanish-language net ...

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. Within one year, she became a vice president. Additionally, she investigated interactive TV opportunities for News Digital Systems.

Artsy

In 2009, Murdoch co-founded the online platform

Artsy Artsy, formally known as Art.sy Inc is a New York City based online art brokerage. Its main business is developing and hosting website for numerous galleries as well as selling art for them. It utilizes a search engine and database to draw conn ...

with

Carter Cleveland Artsy, formally known as Art.sy Inc is a New York City based online art brokerage. Its main business is developing and hosting website for numerous galleries as well as selling art for them. It utilizes a search engine and database to draw conn ...

and

Dasha Zhukova Darya "Dasha" Alexandrovna Zhukova (russian: Дарья "Даша" Александровна Жукова; born 8 June 1981) is a Russian-American art collector, businesswoman, magazine editor, and socialite. She is the founder of the Garage M ...

, which has since become one of the top online places for buying, viewing and learning about art. Other investors include

Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in F ...

François Pinault François Pinault (born 21 August 1936) is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment holding company Artémis. Pinault started his business in the timber industry in the early 1960s. Taken public in ...

and Eric Schmidt.

MySpace

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

Chinese internet investor

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

Film production

In 2011, Murdoch co-produced her first film with Florence Sloan, ''

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan ''Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'' is a 2005 novel by Lisa See set in nineteenth-century China. In her introduction to the novel, See writes that Lily, the narrator, was born on June 5, 1824—"the fifth day of the sixth month of the third year ...

'', a movie about two footbound children in

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

China, directed by

Wayne Wang Wayne Wang (; born January 12, 1949) is a Hong Kong–American director, producer, and screenwriter. Considered a pioneer of Asian-American cinema, he was one of the first Chinese-American filmmakers to gain a major foothold in Hollywood ...

. The film won the Golden Angel Award at the

Chinese American Film Festival Chinese American Film Festival (CAFF) is an American film festival held every November since 2006 in California (with events in Los Angeles and San Francisco, previously also in San Diego). History In 2005, the Chinese American Film Festival w ...

. She also produced the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

documentary Sky Ladder which showcased the art of Cai Guo-Qiang and directed by

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning director Kevin MacDonald. The film premiered in January 2016 at the Sundance Film Festival.

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

hosted a private reception and screening of the film in October 2016 before the film's Netflix debut.

Other investments

Murdoch invested in tech start-ups including Oscar, Snapchat,

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), packa ...

and

Warby Parker Warby Parker is an American online retailer of prescription glasses, contact lenses, and sunglasses, based in New York City. Warby Parker was founded as primarily online retailer, but now sells primarily (about 90%) through approximately 160 p ...

Board memberships

* Artsy * Asia Society * Co-hosted the

Met Gala The Met Gala, or Met Ball, formally called the Costume Institute Gala or the Costume Institute Benefit, is an annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City. It is popularly ...

in 2015 * Chairwoman for Friends of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

Costume Institute Benefit. *

Yale School of Management The Yale School of Management (also known as Yale SOM) is the graduate business school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. The school awards the Master of Business Administration (MBA), MBA for Executiv ...

* Panthera *

Match Group Match Group, Inc. is an American internet and technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It owns and operates the largest global portfolio of popular online dating services including Tinder, Match.com, Meetic, OkCupid, Hinge, PlentyO ...

Personal life

Rupert Murdoch Wendi Murdoch 2011 Shankbone

Jake and Joyce Cherry hosted Deng in their home during her studies in the United States. Later, Jake Cherry left his wife, and married Wendi Deng in 1990. While married to Cherry, Wendi obtained a

green card A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...

. Their marriage lasted 2 years and 7 months when they divorced. Jake later said that they stayed together for only four to five months when he learned that Deng was spending time with David Wolf, a man closer to her age. In 1997, she met

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

, who is 37 years her senior, while working as an executive at the Murdoch-owned Star TV in Hong Kong. They married in 1999 on board his yacht "Morning Glory", less than three weeks after the finalization of his divorce from his second wife, Anna Murdoch. The couple had two children, Grace (born 2001) and Chloe (born 2003).

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

is Grace Murdoch's godfather. In June 2013, Rupert Murdoch filed for divorce from Deng, citing irreconcilable differences."Rupert Murdoch files for divorce from Wendi Deng"
BBC News. June 13, 2013. On July 19, 2011, Wendi Murdoch attacked Jonathan May-Bowles (comedian Jonnie Marbles) after he threw a pie at her husband Rupert Murdoch while he was giving testimony before a British parliamentary committee considering the

News International phone hacking scandal The News International phone hacking scandal was a controversy involving the now-defunct ''News of the World'' and other British newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police b ...

. May-Bowles was subsequently sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment. In February 2014, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' and '' Vanity Fair'' alleged that Wendi Murdoch might have had an affair with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. An article in ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'' claimed that as a result of Rupert Murdoch's suspicion that Blair had an affair with his wife, he ended his long-standing association with Blair in 2014. In early 2018, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' published a story suggesting that

Jared Kushner Jared Corey Kushner (born January 10, 1981) is an American businessman and investor. He served as a senior advisor to 45th U.S. president Donald Trump, his father-in-law. Since leaving the White House, Kushner founded Affinity Partners, a pri ...

and

Ivanka Trump Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump (; born October 30, 1981) is an American businesswoman and the first daughter of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. She was a senior advisor in his administration, and also was the ...

, longtime friends of Murdoch, were warned by US intelligence agencies that Murdoch may be using her relationship with them to further the goals of the Chinese government. Michael Wolff, author of ''Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House'', posited that the article was an attempt by Rupert Murdoch, owner of ''The Wall Street Journal'', to spread the idea that "Wendi is a Chinese spy" in the aftermath of their acrimonious divorce. Murdoch lives in New York City with her two daughters. Grace goes to

, and Chloe studies at Stanford.

References

External links

Official website
* * * * (discusses the

WikiScanner WikiScanner (also known as Wikipedia Scanner) was a publicly searchable database that linked anonymous edits on Wikipedia to the organizations where those edits apparently originated. It did this by cross-referencing the edits with data on the ow ...

data in the editing of this Wikipedia article on Wendi ) *
Chinese MySpace pagephotos
an
blog
* Adams, William Lee.
Wendi : The Life and Times of Mrs. Rupert Murdoch
" ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

''. * Wendi leaping t
Rupert Murdoch’s defence during the attack with a pie in July 2011
Telegraph.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Deng Murdoch, Wendi 1968 births Living people American computer businesspeople American expatriates in Hong Kong American media executives American women in business Businesspeople from Los Angeles Businesspeople from New York City California State University, Northridge alumni Chinese emigrants to the United States Film producers from California Murdoch family Myspace News Corporation people People associated with the News International phone hacking scandal People from Beverly Hills, California Businesspeople from Jinan People from Greenwich Village People from Xuzhou Yale School of Management alumni People from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California People with acquired American citizenship