Wendi Deng Murdoch

Wendi Deng Murdoch (simplified Chinese: 邓文迪; traditional Chinese: 鄧文迪; pinyin: Dèng Wéndí; born Deng Wenge; December 5, 1968) is a Chinese-born American entrepreneur, investor, film producer, and collector of Chinese contemporary art.[3][4]

In this Chinese name, the family name is Deng.
Wendi Murdoch
Murdoch at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival
Born
Deng Wenge (邓文革)

(1968-12-05) December 5, 1968
Jinan, Shandong, China
EducationGuangzhou Medical University
California State University, Northridge (BA)
Yale University (MBA)
Spouses
Jake Cherry
​
​
(m. 1990; div. 1993)​
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1999; div. 2013)​
    Children2[1][2]
    Chinese name
    Simplified Chinese邓文迪
    Traditional Chinese鄧文迪
    Deng Wenge
    Simplified Chinese邓文革
    Traditional Chinese鄧文革
    Websitewww.wendimurdoch.com

    Early life and education

    Wendi Deng was born in Jinan, Shandong and raised in Xuzhou, Jiangsu. Her birth name was Deng Wenge, (邓文革; 鄧文革),[5] Deng, the family name,[6] and Wenge meaning "Cultural Revolution".[7][8] She has two older sisters, and a brother,[6] and both of her parents were engineers.[9] When she was a teen she changed her given name to "Wendi".[10][5][11]

    She attended Xuzhou First Secondary School (a.k.a. Xuzhou No.1 Middle School). She became a competitive volleyball player.[12][13] While she was in high school, her father relocated to Guangzhou, where he was a factory director[6] 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.[6]

    In 1988, she left medical school and went to the United States on a study permit. She enrolled at California State University, Northridge,[14] where she studied economics and was among the top scoring students.[15][16] She obtained a BA in Economics from California State University at Northridge and an MBA from Yale University.[9]

    Career and public profile

    Star TV Hong Kong

    Upon graduation from Yale in 1996,[17] Deng met Bruce Churchill. At that time, Churchill oversaw finance and corporate development at the Fox TV branch in Los Angeles. He offered Deng an internship at News Corp subsidiary Star TV 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.[6] Within one year, she became a vice president.[9] Additionally, she investigated interactive TV opportunities for News Digital Systems.[6]

    Artsy

    In 2009, Murdoch co-founded the online platform Artsy[18] with Carter Cleveland[19] and Dasha Zhukova,[20] which has since become one of the top online places for buying, viewing and learning about art.[21][9][22] Other investors include Peter Thiel, François Pinault and Eric Schmidt.[20][9]

    MySpace

    Murdoch was an advisor for MySpace's China operation, prior to the company's sale to Specific Media in June 2011.[23][24][25]

    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.[26]

    Film production

    In 2011, Murdoch co-produced her first film with Florence Sloan,[27] Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, a movie about two footbound children in Qing dynasty China,[28][29] directed by Wayne Wang.[30] The film won the Golden Angel Award at the Chinese American Film Festival.[31]

    She also produced the Netflix documentary Sky Ladder[32] which showcased the art of Cai Guo-Qiang[33] and directed by Academy Award-winning director Kevin MacDonald.[34] The film premiered in January 2016 at the Sundance Film Festival.[35] Sotheby's hosted a private reception and screening of the film in October 2016 before the film's Netflix debut.[36]

    Other investments

    Murdoch invested in tech start-ups including Oscar, Snapchat, Uber and Warby Parker.[19][9]

    Board memberships

    Personal life
    Rupert and Wendi Murdoch in 2011

    Jake and Joyce Cherry hosted Deng in their home during her studies in the United States. Later, Jake Cherry left his wife,[15] and married Wendi Deng in 1990.[45] While married to Cherry, Wendi obtained a green card.[15][45] Their marriage lasted 2 years and 7 months when they divorced.[15] 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.[45] Deng used Wolf’s money to study at Yale.

    In 1997, she met Rupert Murdoch, who is 37 years her senior, while working as an executive at the Murdoch-owned Star TV in Hong Kong.[9] They married in 1999[46] on board his yacht Morning Glory,[47] less than three weeks after the finalization of his divorce from his second wife, Anna Murdoch.[48][49][50] The couple had two daughters: Grace (born 2001) and Chloe (born 2003). Tony Blair is Grace Murdoch's godfather.[51] In June 2013, Rupert Murdoch filed for divorce from Deng, citing irreconcilable differences.[52]

    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.[53] May-Bowles was subsequently sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment.[54]

    In February 2014, The Daily Telegraph and Vanity Fair alleged that Wendi Murdoch might have had an affair with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.[55][49] An article in The Economist 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.[56]

    In early 2018, The Wall Street Journal published a story suggesting that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump,[57] 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.[58] 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.[59]

    Murdoch lives in New York City with her two daughters.[9] Grace goes to Yale University, and Chloe studies at Stanford.[60]

    See also

    References
    1. "Rupert Murdoch and His Family". International Business Times. July 9, 2011. Retrieved July 24, 2011.
    2. Hillman, Sir William Arbuthnot and Charles. "Murdoch family genealogy". Kittybrewster.com. Archived from the original on July 3, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
    3. Robehmed, Natalie (September 6, 2013). "Why Artsy Is Succeeding In Putting The Art World Online". Forbes. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
    4. Grishpan, Renny (March 4, 2013). "Wendi Murdoch and Kenzo Digital: Where Art and Technology Meet". Asia Society. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
    5. Ellis, Eric (June 2007). "Wendi Deng Murdoch – A Life". The Monthly. pp. 28–40.
    6. Lippman, John; Chang, Leslie; Frank, Robert (November 1, 2000). "Rupert Murdoch's Wife Wendi Wields Influence at News Corp". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
    7. Anthony, Andrew (February 9, 2014). "Sex and single-mindedness: The Wendy Deng story". The Japan Times. Retrieved December 7, 2019. Wendi Deng was born Deng Wen Ge, which means "cultural revolution,"...
    8. Zhao, Christina (January 16, 2018). "Who Is Wendi Deng? Rupert Murdoch's Ex-Wife, Ivanka Trump's Bestie and Suspected Chinese Spy". Newsweek. Retrieved December 7, 2019. She was born in China's Shandong province in 1968, and her birth name was Deng Wenge, which translates to "cultural revolution." She changed her name as a teenager.
    9. Haskell, Rob (July 20, 2016). "Wendi Murdoch Is Nothing Less Than a Force of Nature". Vogue. Retrieved June 8, 2020.
    10. Jonathan Watts (July 20, 2011). "Wendi Deng hailed in China for defending Rupert Murdoch". The Guardian.
    11. "Rupert Murdoch's Wife Wendi Wields Influence at NewsCorp". The Wall Street Journal. November 2, 2000. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
    12. Adams, Stephen (July 19, 2011). "Rupert Murdoch hit by custard pie: Wendi Deng's volleyball spike". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
    13. Danaher, Patricia (November 12, 2011). "The Saturday interview: Wendi Murdoch". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
    14. Chozick, Amy (June 15, 2012). "Wendi Murdoch Is Creating a Career of Her Own". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
    15. Steve Fishman (September 11, 2005). "The Boy Who Wouldn't Be King". New York. New York Media. p. 5. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
    16. "Wendi Deng: Heiress Apparent?". The Asia Magazine. Archived from the original on October 13, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
    17. "Wendi Deng profile: The demerger". The Independent. June 14, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
    18. Murdoch, Wendi (October 21, 2016). "This Is What Wendi Murdoch Does on the Internet". ELLE. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
    19. Shnayerson, Michael (March 15, 2018). "Artsy's Wendi Murdoch Just Wants to Sell You a Painting". Town & Country. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
    20. Garrahan, Matthew (July 5, 2016). "Vice Media buys Dasha Zhukova's Garage art magazine". Financial Times. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
    21. Robehmed, Natalie. "Why Artsy Is Succeeding In Putting The Art World Online". Forbes. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
    22. Schuetz, Molly (March 27, 2018). "New York's Artsy Is Making It Even Easier to Buy Art Online". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
    23. "Wendi Murdoch to work with MySpace". China Economic Review. July 4, 2007. Archived from the original on May 19, 2008. Retrieved September 5, 2010.
    24. "Wendi Deng's MySpace China Venture". AsiaSentinel. July 12, 2011. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
    25. Lowensohn, Josh. "MySpace sells to Specific Media for $35 million". CNET. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
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    43. Reporter, DESTINY (October 5, 2018). "RandGold CEO under fire over hunting hobby". DESTINY Magazine. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
    44. "Match Group completes separation from IAC, new board includes Wendi Murdoch and Ryan Reynolds". TechCrunch. July 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
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    53. John Plunkett and Jane Martinson "Rupert Murdoch attacked at phone-hacking hearing". The Guardian. July 19, 2011.
    54. "CC Murdoch pie thrower reportedly blogging from prison". This Just In. CNN. August 16, 2011. Archived from the original on January 14, 2012. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
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