Rupert Murdoch OKs 'amicable' divorce

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his estranged third wife Wendi Deng have agreed on an "amicable" divorce settlement, the couple announced in New York on Wednesday.

Murdoch, 82, and Deng, 44, issued the statement after attending a brief hearing before New York judge Ellen Gesmer.

The couple, who were married in 1999, made no comment after the 10-minute hearing.

"We are pleased to announce that we have reached an amicable settlement of all matters relating to our divorce," the statement said.

"We move forward with mutual respect and a shared interest in the health and happiness of our two daughters. We will not comment on this any further."

The couple have 60 days to implement the settlement before the divorce is final, US media reports said.

"I am glad you've been able to resolve these matters amicably," Judge Gesmer was quoted as saying in US media reports.

"Good luck to both of you."

The terms of the agreement weren't disclosed in court, but a person familiar with the settlement said Wendi Deng Murdoch will keep the couple's Beijing house and their apartment, valued at $44 million, on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. The couple will share custody of the school-age girls, who are expected to continue living with their mother in Manhattan, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Murdoch will retain properties elsewhere, including an estate in Bel Air, California, said the person. The couple's possessions also include a yacht, which is up for sale, the source said.

Murdoch filed for divorce in June, saying his marriage with Deng, nearly 40 years his junior, was "irretrievably broken".

The couple have two daughters, Grace Helen, 12, and Chloe, 10.

The couple had signed a pre-nuptial agreement ensuring that Murdoch's grip on his media empire would not be affected by any possible break-up.

The Australian-American tycoon's media empire was split into two in June: News Corp, for print media, and 21st Century Fox, for television and cinema.

Deng and the couple's two daughters have no voting rights in the company, in contrast to Murdoch's four other children from his two previous marriages.

Murdoch, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at around $13.4 billion, owns some of the most famous newspaper titles in the world, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post and British dailies The Times and The Sun.

His British newspaper arm was embroiled in a phone-hacking scandal that erupted in 2011, ultimately leading to the closure of Sunday tabloid The News of the World.

Deng met Murdoch when she worked at his Star Television company in Hong Kong, where former colleagues have described her as an expert networker with big ambitions.

Born in the eastern Chinese city of Xuzhou in 1968, she left China at 19 to study in the United States. She graduated from the Yale School of Management in 1996.

Last year, she famously leapt out of her seat to counter-attack a protester who hit Murdoch with a cream pie during testimony before a British parliamentary committee over the hacking of cellphone voice-mails by his now-defunct News of the World tabloid.

AFP-AP