| Elisabeth Murdoch | |
| Birth Date: | 22 August 1968 |
| Birth Place: | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Citizenship: | Australia United Kingdom United States |
| Education: | Vassar College (BA) |
| Occupation: | Journalist, media executive |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 4 |
| Mother: | Anna Maria Torv |
| Father: | Rupert Murdoch |
| Family: | Murdoch |
Elisabeth Murdoch (born 22 August 1968) is an Australian-born British and American media executive based in the United Kingdom.[1] She was a non-executive chairperson of Shine Group, the UK-based TV programme production company she founded in 2001, until the company's parent 21st Century Fox merged its Shine Group division with Apollo Global Management's Endemol and Core Media production houses, specializing in reality TV, in 2015.[2] She is the daughter of the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch.
Elisabeth Murdoch was born on 22 August 1968 at King George V Memorial Hospital in Sydney.[3] [4] Her father is media tycoon Rupert Murdoch (born 1931), and her mother is his ex-wife, journalist and author Anna Maria dePeyster (née Torv; born 1944). Elisabeth Murdoch was named after her grandmother, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch (1909–2012). She completed her secondary education at the Brearley School in New York City and graduated with a bachelor's degree from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.[5]
Elisabeth Murdoch began her career as a manager of programme acquisitions at her father's FX Networks, a cable television unit based in Los Angeles. Operating as EP Communications on 22 September 1994, Murdoch and her then-husband Elkin Kwesi Pianim purchased a pair of NBC-affiliate television stations (KSBW and KSBY) in California on a US$35 million loan, being secured by her father.[6]
Elisabeth Murdoch moved with Elkin Kwesi Pianim to the United Kingdom where Elisabeth's father Rupert Murdoch was running BSkyB (which was struggling financially). After Sam Chisholm joined the company to manage the day-to-day operations and build the subscriber base, Murdoch served as his second-in-command and de facto apprentice. By the time when Chisholm left the company, BSkyB was the most profitable company in the United Kingdom. As a managing director, Murdoch oversaw BSkyB's £12 million sponsorship of the troubled Millennium Dome. However, she also faced criticism after brokering her father's failed £623.4 million bid for English Premier League club Manchester United.[7]
After quarreling with Sam Chisholm, Elisabeth Murdoch ventured out on her own as a television and film producer in London. Murdoch advocated Sky UK Limited, by setting up a film and production unit similar to BBC Films and Film4 Productions. However, due to lack of success, this unit closed down. Murdoch founded Shine Limited in March 2001 with 80 percent by herself, 15 percent by Lord Alli and 5 percent by BSkyB, which signed a deal guaranteeing to buy an agreed amount of Shine Group programming for two years.
In 2011, Shine Group was acquired by News Corporation in a controversial deal that raised questions about nepotism.[8] In February 2013, Murdoch was assessed as the fifth most powerful woman in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.[9]
In 2018, Murdoch produced a dating reality show called Phone Swap, which was originally aired on Snapchat.[10]
Murdoch has served on many organizational boards such as Afiniti.[11] In 2019, Murdoch set up her global TV and film production and development company (that she works for) called Sister Pictures, which is headquartered in London with offices in Los Angeles.[12] [13] Sister Pictures had a deal with Chris Goldberg and his Winterlight Pictures company.[14] Murdoch also had a deal with American actor Jeremy Strong.[15]
Murdoch was even appointed as the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to diversity in the arts and to charity.
Murdoch's first marriage was to a fellow Vassar graduate, Elkin Kwesi Pianim, an associate in the New York corporate finance department of the Rothschild investment bank. He is the son of Ghananian-born economist and financier Kwame Pianim and Dutch-born Cornelia Pianim. The wedding was held on 10 September 1993 at St. Timothy Catholic Church near the Beverly Hills residence of the bride's parents.[16] [17] They have two children, Cornelia Pianim (born 1994 in New York) and Anna Pianim (born 1997 in London). They were divorced in 1998.
Murdoch's second marriage was to public relations executive Matthew Freud, the son of former MP Sir Clement Freud and great-grandson of Sigmund Freud. The couple married on 18 August 2001 in a ceremony at Blenheim Palace. The couple had two children.[18] From 2008, the family resided at Burford Priory in Oxfordshire, where they were key members of the Chipping Norton set.[19] They also owned a home in Notting Hill, London. The couple divorced in 2014.[20]
In 2017 Murdoch married artist Keith Tyson.[21]
Murdoch is a dual national of the United States and the United Kingdom. She currently resides in the St John's Wood neighbourhood of London.[22]
Murdoch is widely understood to be the inspiration for the character Shiv Roy in the television series Succession. Aspects of Murdoch's career, including her troubled stint at BSkyB, are mirrored by the Shiv character.[23] [24] According to Murdoch's daughter, Charlotte Freud, the notion the series is based on the family is accurate. Freud has said "my mum is very Shiv" but that her mother disagrees with that view.[25] According to Succession star Brian Cox, when he met Murdoch's husband Keith Tyson in a London café Tyson confirmed that the couple were fans of the show.[26]