Rupert Murdoch's Long and Winding Career

Portrait of the Mogul as a Young Man
Born in 1931 in Melbourne, Keith Rupert Murdoch was named for his father Sir Keith Murdoch, a celebrated journalist who later became a newspaper executive. When Murdoch was 22, his father died, prompting the son to return to Australia from the U.K. (where he had been studying at Oxford University) and take over the family business. Beginning with a newspaper in Adelaide, Murdoch built a network of properties in Australia, including purchasing outlets like Sydney tabloid the Daily Mirror, which the young tycoon shows off to a photographer in this photo, taken in 1960.

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