Rupert Murdoch to marry for fifth time at 92

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has announced he is engaged to his partner Ann Lesley Smith, a former police chaplain.

The pair met at an event at his vineyard in California in September.

The marriage will be the fifth for the 92-year-old Australian-born media owner.

He officially split with fourth wife, Jerry Hall, in August.

“I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy,” Murdoch told one of his own publications, the New York Post. 

Ms Smith, 66, is a widow whose late husband was Chester Smith, a country singer, radio and TV executive.

Murdoch, who owns titles including The Australian, The Times in the UK, and Fox News in the United States, proposed to Ms Smith in New York on March 17.

The couple plan to marry late in the northern hemisphere summer.

Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall married in 2016.(Reuters: Danny Moloshok, file)

Murdoch’s nuptials are unlikely to change the ownership structure of businesses in which he holds stakes, including Fox Corp, the parent company of Fox News Channel, and News Corp.

Murdoch controls News Corp and Fox Corp through a Nevada-based family trust that holds roughly a 40 per cent stake in voting shares of each company.

Fox is currently defending itself in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems.

Dominion has accused the cable TV network of amplifying claims that Dominion voting machines were used to rig the US presidential election against Republican Donald Trump and in favour of Joe Biden, who won.

Fox has defended its coverage, arguing claims by Mr Trump and his lawyers were inherently newsworthy and protected by the first amendment of the US constitution.

Reuters