Rupert murdoch daughters chloe and grace, Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng Murdoch appeared in court Wednesday morning and announced they had reached a divorce settlement, an agreement that effectively ends the 14-year marriage of the media mogul and his third wife.
At a hearing at New York State Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan, the couple sat at far ends of a small table, flanked by their lawyers. Both told a judge they had signed on to the confidential hundred-page agreement that rested on the table, which made a trial unnecessary.
“I’m glad that you’ve been able to resolve these matters amicably,” said Judge Ellen Gesmer, whose approval the final divorce decree still needs. “Good luck to both of you.”
People close to the Murdochs said the settlement negotiations were relatively straightforward, in part because they signed one prenuptial and two postnuptial agreements delineating the division of assets in the event of a divorce.
Still, there were several contentious issues, including custody arrangements for their two daughters, Grace, 12, and Chloe, 10. Mrs. Murdoch will continue to live in the couple’s Fifth Avenue penthouse triplex with the children, according to people with knowledge of the agreement.
Mr. Murdoch has four children from his previous two marriages, and all six of his children have equal economic interests in a family trust that holds most of Mr. Murdoch’s wealth, estimated at about $13 billion. Chloe and Grace, however, do not have the same voting rights in the trust.
The Murdochs’ divorce will not affect the ownership and control of Mr. Murdoch’s multibillion-dollar media conglomerate, which was recently split into two separate companies: News Corporation, a publishing company, and 21st Century Fox, which houses entertainment assets.
The 15-minute hearing was held in a small courtroom. Mr. Murdoch, 82, arrived first, wearing a dark gray suit and red tie, and sat quietly in the back row while waiting for the proceedings to begin. He was accompanied by his divorce lawyer, Ira E. Garr, and the general counsel of his two companies, Gerson A. Zweifach.
Mrs. Murdoch, 44, entered the courtroom a few minutes later, dressed in a hunter green overcoat and carrying a black-and-white leopard print bag. Her husband stood up and they shook hands. The couple shook hands again at the end of the hearing and did not engage in conversation.
Both Murdochs declined to comment, other than issuing a joint statement. “We move forward with mutual respect and a shared interest in the health and happiness of our two daughters,” they said.
Mr. Murdoch met Wendi Deng in 1998 on a business trip to China, where she worked for a division of News Corporation. They married a year later in New York Harbor aboard Mr. Murdoch’s 155-foot yacht, the Morning Glory. The boat has been put up for sale.
Normally a fixture on the New York social circuit, Mrs. Murdoch has kept a low profile since June, when Mr. Murdoch surprised her with divorce papers. The lawsuit said that the “relationship between husband and wife has broken down irretrievably.” Friends say that in recent years, the two have been living largely separate lives.
In 2011, during British parliamentary hearings on a phone hacking scandal involving one of Mr. Murdoch’s newspapers, Mrs. Murdoch made headlines when she lunged at a protester trying to attack her husband with a pie.
Her protective urge was again on display in court on Wednesday. This time though, she was solicitous of her lawyer, William D. Zabel.
Walking with a limp and aided by a cane, Mr. Zabel was in obvious discomfort as he awaited hip replacement surgery later this week. Mrs. Murdoch grabbed Mr. Zabel by the arm both before and after the hearing, helping him move about the courtroom. Hobbling in the hallway, Mr. Zabel was asked how he was feeling and if he had any comment on the case.