Phone Hacking: Wendi Deng - from Communist obscurity to top of capitalist heap
Rebekah Brooks, who began life as a secretary, may have thought she had done well working her way into the affections of Rupert Murdoch.
2:35PM BST 20 Jul 2011
But her achievements are as nothing compared to his third wife Wendi Deng.
She has catapulted herself from the anonymity and austerity of communist China to the family - and now the family trust - of one of the world's most powerful and wealthy men.
Along the way she appears to have exhibited the kind of drive and ruthlessness that even her husband must be proud of.
Born Deng Wen Di, she grew up in the obscure eastern Chinese city of Xuzhou, the daughter of an engineer who eventually rose to be the director of a machinery factory.
At school, she was a "good student" and "champion volley ball player" who enrolled at Guangzhou medical college at the age of 16.
But she always dreamt of a life in the USA.
In 1987 she gained her "ticket out of China" when she met an American couple from Los Angeles, Jake and Joyce Cherry.
Mrs Cherry, whose husband was building a factory in China, agreed to teach Ms Deng English.
When Mrs Cherry went back to the United States her husband stayed in China and soon after, he told her that Miss Deng wanted to go to America to study there.
The couple sponsored her application for a student visa and agreed to put her up until she had established herself.
Ms Deng, then 19, went to live at the Cherry's home in 1988 and shared a bunk bed with their five-year-old daughter.
But Mrs Cherry grew increasingly suspicious about her husband's relationship with Miss Deng.
A New York Times artilce said: "Mrs Cherry recalls discovering a cache of photographs her husband had taken of Miss Deng in coquettish poses in his hotel room in Guanzhou."
Mr Cherry admitted that he had become infatuated with her and that once they were in Los Angeles, Ms Deng started "making recommendations" about his diet and wardrobe.
When her husband and Ms Deng did not come home some evenings, Mrs Cherry concluded that they were having an affair.
She told Ms Deng to leave and her husband left soon afterwards, moving into a nearby apartment with Ms Deng, who was by then a student at California State University.
The Cherrys divorced and Mr Cherry married Ms Deng in 1990.
However, the romance came to an abrupt end after Mr Cherry discovered that Ms Deng "had started spending time" with a man named David Wolf.
Mr Cherry said: "She told me I was a father concept to her but it would never be anything else. I loved that girl."
Although the marriage officially lasted more than two years - long enough for Ms Deng to get a "green card" allowing her to stay permanently in America - her former husband claimed that they only lived together for four or five months.
Any turmoil she was feeling did not derail her from her studies.
She graduated from California State University, Northridge in the top one per cent of students, she secured a place to study for an MBA at Yale.
In 1996 she moved to Hong Kong, securing an internship at Star TV, a subsidiary of News Corp, after meeting a Fox TV executive on the flight.
In 1998 she met Mr Murdoch at a staff party. Then well into his 60s, he had been married to his second wife Anna for 30 years.
That, however, stopped neither of them and a year later they were married. He was 68, she 30. They have since had two children together - Grace Helen Murdoch, nine, and Chloe Murdoch, six.
Deng has become a director for the holding company that licenses the MySpace brand and has led her husband's Chinese internet investments.
She has led the way in forming business links with China for high-speed video and internet access.
She is now chief of strategy for MySpace's China operation and has purportedly secured her children $100million (£60million) each of News Corp stock.
Yesterday's leap to her husband's defence can only enhance the affection that Murdoch senior holds for her.
As one MP said: "Don't get in the way of Wendi Deng."
| UK papers: 'Murdoch eats humble pie' | ||
Some termed it as 'the best political thriller of our times' while others say 'it was tragedy replaying as slapstick'. Last Modified: 20 Jul 2011 10:26 | ||
Rupert Murdoch's "humble" apology and subsequent attack by a shaving foam pie-wielding assailant dominated headlines in British papers on Thursday, as the country continued to reel from the fallout from the News of the Worldphone hacking scandal. "From humble pie to custard pie: Wendi to the rescue after Rupert tells MPs how sorry he is but doesn't feel responsible for anything" said the Daily Mail, summing up the media mogul's eagerly watched appearance in front of a parliamentary inquiry which ended with Murdoch's wife jumping to her husband's defence in front of a stunned committee room. "In farcical scenes that were deeply embarrassing for Parliament, Mrs Murdoch, 42, grappled with a protester who had made his way unchecked through 'airport-style security'," the paper said. "Foam whacked!" read the headline on the front of the tabloid Daily Mirror, while Murdoch-owned Sun perhaps unsurprisingly chose to focus on its owner's contrition under the headline: "The most humble day of my life". Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian, which as spearheaded reporting into phone hacking, called the session, in which Murdoch, his son James and his former British newspapers chief Rebekah Brooks were questioned by parliamentarians, as "the best political thriller of our times". "Before the low – and contemptible – act of pantomime, the attempted foaming, this was a tableau bursting with drama, both public and curiously domestic." Spineless invertebrates But Max Hastings, writing in the Daily Mail, expressed disappointment over the committee members' failure to extract solid information from the media mogul and his son. The Independent agreed the Murdochs' inquisitors failed to put the pair under enough pressure. "The Murdochs visibly relaxed as the hearing went on. Compared with US Congressional committee hearings, this was an amateurish show," the paper reported. "The MPs of the select committee, with some honourable exceptions, did nothing to ensure that it would be. But the questions are not over. And Mr Murdoch's day of true humility might still be to come." The Daily Telegraph, though, said the proceedings had been "an extraordinary day" for the British parliament. "It demonstrated the continuing relevance of our parliament to public life. Never before can Rupert Murdoch have been put on the spot in the way he was by the MPs of the culture committee," said the paper. "If it was ever true that Mr Murdoch wielded a spell over British politics, then it was broken in the space of three hours at the House of Commons." Comparing the pie attack with the assassination of US President John Kennedy in 1963, Hyde wrote: "We do not know if the foam-thrower who targeted Rupert Murdoch was acting alone, or if there was a second pie man on the committee room knoll. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2011/07/201172075612877244.html |
Rupert Murdoch's Chinese dreams never became a reality
Rupert Murdoch has been married to Wendi Deng since 1999When a protester tried to cover Rupert Murdoch with shaving cream as he appeared before MPs at the Houses of Parliament, his wife sprang to his defence.
But despite her quick reflexes and canny instincts, Wendi Deng has not been able to help Mr Murdoch succeed in mainland China, the place of her birth.
"News Corp never made any headway at all in terms of getting its own channel in China," says Doug Young, who teaches journalism at Fudan University in Shanghai.
"It was one of the most aggressive media companies, in terms of being willing to delve into the grey areas to do business," he added. "But the strategy backfired."
Over a period of almost 20 years, Mr Murdoch travelled regularly to China and assiduously courted its leaders, in the hope of creating a truly global satellite network.
But last August, News Corp announced it was selling controlling stakes in three of its Chinese television channels to a domestic private equity fund based in Beijing and Shanghai.
News Corp currently owns 47% of Star TV China, and 17.6% of Phoenix TV, a popular Hong Kong-broadcaster.
Optimistic timesIt was not supposed to be this way.
In 1993, Mr Murdoch purchased Hong Kong-based Star TV for almost $1bn (£620m) from Richard Li, son of Asia's richest man, Li Ka-shing.
Star TV was then broadcasting across Asia, according to Vivek Couto, a media analyst at Media Partners Asia.
"In the 1990s, nothing was regulated in China," he says, explaining why Western media giants were so optimistic about the mainland market.
Mr Murdoch has tried to woo the Chinese authorities in an attempt to enter the country's lucrative marketMr Murdoch is believed to have met Wendi Deng, then working for Star TV, in 1997. They married two years later.
At the time, China was in talks to join the World Trade Organization.
It seemed to be on the cusp of opening its domestic market to foreigners, a dream cherished by the West ever since Lord Macartney led a British delegation to see the Qianlong Emperor in 1792.
Besides News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom and Disney were all poised to break into China, to take advantage of a market with a population of 1.3 billion people.
So, foreign broadcasters were elated when, in 2003, they were granted rights to broadcast to the wealthy Cantonese-speaking province of Guangdong.
It was the first step, they believed, in gaining so-called "landing rights" in the rest of the country.
Media banBut just two years later, their hopes were dashed.
In 2005, China's broadcast regulator, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, published new regulations forbidding foreign stations from buying domestic channels and other media outlets.
The move was seen as Beijing's effort to maintain control over what its people can see and read.
News Corp was forced to cancel a landmark joint venture with Qinghai Satellite Television, a provincial broadcaster.
The station was expected to broadcast across the country.
Mr Couto, the media analyst, says News Corp had to write off the $50m (£31m) venture.
Since her marriage to Mr Murdoch, Wendi Deng has been a director of the Chinese edition of social networking website MySpace.
MySpace was sold this year after unsuccessful attempts to revive the brand.
Despite their best efforts, the Murdochs' attempts to break into China have been hampered by legal restrictions and other obstacles.
As to when China may loosen its media controls, Mr Couto says: "Maybe 10 to 20 years? It's definitely something for our children to see."
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Phone hacking |
Wendi Deng
| Wendi Deng Murdoch 默多克·邓文迪 | |
|---|---|
 in New York City (April 2010) | |
| Born | Wenge Deng December 8, 1968 [1] Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China |
| Nationality | American |
| Ethnicity | Chinese |
| Occupation | Businesswoman |
| Spouse | Jake Cherry (m. 1990–1993) Rupert Murdoch (m. 1999–present) |
| Children | Grace Murdoch (b. 2001) Chloe Murdoch (b. 2005) |
Wendi Deng (simplified Chinese: 默多克·邓文迪; traditional Chinese: 默多克·鄧文迪; pinyin:Mòduōkè Dèng Wéndí; born December 8, 1968) is the third wife of News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch.
In 1988 she was sponsored by an American family for a student visa to the United States of America. She studied economics at Cal State Northridge and last attended Yale School of Management. Her first work experience in the media was with Fox TV. After Fox TV, she was offered an internship at Star TV, Hong Kong, part of News Corporation. Deng met Rupert Murdoch in Hong Kong in 1997 when she was 29 years old and Murdoch was 66.
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Early life and education
Born in Jinan, Shandong and raised in Xuzhou, Jiangsu, she was originally named Deng Wenge (邓文革).[2] She is the third of four children (three daughters, one son) born to engineers.[3] Deng attended the local Xuzhou First Secondary School and Xuzhou No. 1 Middle School. She developed a strong interest in playing volleyball. While Deng was in high school, her father relocated to Hangzhou, where he was employed at the People's Machinery Works; she and her family remained behind for a short while. In 1985, when she was 16 years old, Deng enrolled inGuangzhou Medical College.[4]
In 1987 Deng met an American businessman and his wife, Jake and Joyce Cherry,[5] who had temporarily relocated to China to help build a refrigerator factory.[5] Deng asked the couple for tutoring lessons in English, which Joyce eventually provided.[5] In 1988, she abandoned her medical studies and travelled to the United States to study, with the Cherrys sponsoring Deng'sstudent visa.[5] Deng enrolled at California State University, Northridge, where she studiedeconomics and was among the top 1% of students.[5][6]
After studying at Cal State Northridge, Deng attended business school at Yale University.
Career
Upon graduation from Yale, she began searching for a job, and met Bruce Campbell via a mutual friend; Campbell at the time oversaw finance and corporate development at the Fox TV branch in Los Angeles. He subsequently 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,[7] Deng 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. Additionally, she investigated interactive TV opportunities for News Digital Systems.
Deng has recently become a director for the holding company that licenses the MySpacebrand and technology to MySpace China, her first formal involvement in the media business since she left her job as a junior executive at the company's Star TV in Hong Kong in 1999. Deng has led her husband's Chinese internet investments totalling between $35 million and $45m. She has led the way in forming business links with China for high-speed video and internet access. [8] She is now chief of strategy for MySpace's China operation.[9]
Her public profile was raised after she leaped to the rescue of her husband and slapped the head of a man who attempted to push a plate of shaving foam into his face [10] [11] during a highly publicized testimony in connection with theNews International phone hacking scandal.[12]
Personal life
After entering the United States, Deng lived with the Cherry family for a while when attending university. Mrs. Cherry suspected her husband was having an affair with Deng (30 years his junior) and demanded she leave the house. Mr. Cherry soon followed and moved in with her.[5] The two married in 1990.[4] Deng and Cherry's marriage lasted 2 years and 7 months before they were legally divorced,[5] but he would later explain they only stayed together for 4 or 5 months,[4] after which he learned of the extramarital relationship Deng had with David Wolf.[4] Nonetheless, she had been able to secure a green card through being legally married to Cherry.[4][5]
In 1997, Deng met Rupert Murdoch at a company party in Hong Kong.[6] Deng and Murdoch married in 1999,[13] less than three weeks after his divorce from ex-wife Anna Maria Torv Murdoch Mann was finalized.[13] They live in Manhattan with their two daughters: Grace Helen Murdoch (born 2001) and Chloe Murdoch (born 2005). Deng is pro-vegan.[14]
References
- ^ Lewis, Hilary. "Happy Belated Birthday, Wendi Deng!".Business Insider.
- ^ Ellis, Eric (June 2007). "Wendi Deng Murdoch — A Life". The Monthly: pp. 28–40.
- ^ "Rupert Murdoch's Wife Wendi Wields Influence at NewsCorp.". The Wall Street Journal. November 2, 2000. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Leonard, Tom (2 November 2000). "How Murdoch's wife won her ticket to America". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "The Boy Who Wouldn't Be King". New York Media. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
- ^ a b "Wendi Deng: Heiress Apparent?". The Asia Magazine. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
- ^ Lippman, John. "Rupert Murdoch's Wife Wendi Wields Influence at News Corp.". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
- ^ "Who is Wendi Murdoch?". 5 November 2000. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
- ^ "Wendi Murdoch to work with MySpace". China Economic Review. July 4, 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14209268
- ^ FatherhoodChannel (20 July 2011). "Wendi Deng Murdoch Stands by Her Man Rupert Murdoch". FatherhoodChannel.com.
- ^ Associated Press (19 July 2011). "Murdochs, Brooks Face Questioning by British Lawmakers". Fownews.com.
- ^ a b "NNDb.com". NNDb.com. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
- ^ Stein, Joel (November 4, 2010). "The Rise of the Power Vegans". BusinessWeek (Bloomberg).
External links
- "Spiked!". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 7 May 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
- "Stain Removal". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 27 August 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2010. (discusses the WikiScanner data in the editing of this Wikipedia article on Wendi Deng)
- (Chinese) 邓文迪 at Baidu Baike and 邓文迪 at Hudong
- (Chinese) Chinese MySpace page, photos and blog
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendi_Deng - CachedOxfam America President Raymond C. Offenheiser, Wendi Deng and husband RupertMurdoch with MySpace co-founders at the 2006 Oxfam/MySpace Rock for Darfur ...
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Wendi Deng Murdoch Lauded by Katie Couric for Jumping to Defense ...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/.../wendi-deng-murdoch-lauded... - United States19 Jul 2011 – After an incident during the News Corp. chairman's U.K. parliamentary testimony, people call his wife "tiger wife" and "tiger mother" on ...
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Wendi Deng Murdoch Smacks Pie-Throwing Protester Who Targeted ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7vhgw2s6tA46 sec - 17 hours ago - Uploaded by slatester
Wendi Deng Murdoch, the third wife of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, is trending after she leapt to her husband's defense—literally—during ... -
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20 Jul 2011 – Dressed demurely in a pink jacket, the tall Wendi Deng Murdoch - she is six feet tall, unusual for an Asian - was much a shadow till a man ...
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www.ericellis.com/wendideng.htm - CachedWENDI DENG MURDOCH - A LIFE. "Cheers to Wendi! Gan bei! Drink the cup dry!" It's 8 pm on a freezing night in Xuzhou, and we're having a jolly time in the ...
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specials.msn.com/A-List/Lifestyle/Who-is-Wendi-Deng.aspx?cp...19 Jul 2011 – Search: Who is Wendi Deng? Rupert Murdoch's wife jumped to his defense – literally – and fended off an attacker (what's his name? ...
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Wendi Deng Murdoch: The Super Wife : Wendi Deng Murdoch: The Super ...
Wendi Deng Murdoch gave the term 'tiger-mom' a whole new meaning when she hit back at the man who attacked her husband Rupert Murdoch. ...
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The Rise of Wendi Deng Murdoch | asia! through Asian Eyes
www.theasiamag.com/people/the-rise-of-wendi-deng-murdoch - Cached18 May 2009 – She is Wendi Deng Murdoch, and she may soon come to a newspaper, a TV channel or an Internet portal near you.
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Howard Out: Where Is Wendi Deng Murdoch's Wolf?
4 May 2007 – Somebody at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory wants to know more about Rupert Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng, and her old affair with a guy ...
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Wendi Deng | Facebook
www.facebook.com/pages/Wendi-Deng/132816556753411 - CachedWendi Deng Murdoch is a Chinese-born American businesswoman and wife of News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. ...
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