Media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 92, engaged to Ann Lesley Smith

NEW YORK - Fox Corporation’s chairman Rupert Murdoch is engaged to former San Francisco police chaplain Ann Lesley Smith, his spokesman confirmed on Monday, which will mark the fifth marriage for the 92-year-old media mogul.

Mr Murdoch finalised his divorce from actress and model Jerry Hall in August 2022.

Mr Murdoch and Ms Smith, 66, first met in September 2022 at his vineyard Moraga in Bel Air, California, and he called her two weeks later, Mr Murdoch told the News Corporation-owned New York Post, which broke the news of the engagement.

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

On March 17 in New York, Mr Murdoch presented Ms Smith with an Asscher-cut diamond solitaire ring, according to the Post. They will be married in late summer.

“I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy,” Mr Murdoch told the Post

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

Mr Murdoch controls News Corporation and Fox Corporation through a Reno, 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 US$1.6 billion (S$2.14 billion) defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems.

Dominion has accused the cable television network of amplifying debunked claims that Dominion voting machines were used to rig the election against Republican former president Donald Trump and in favour of his rival President Joe Biden, who won the election.

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