--- title: Rupert Murdoch: How His Career Got Started description: The media mogul is getting ready to cut back on his work. Here's what TIME said about him in 1977 canonical: https://time.com/3917671/rupert-murdoch-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-11T20:07:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T08:07:23.027Z article:section: History og:title: Rupert Murdoch: How His Career Got Started og:description: An Australian gambling game has something to do with it og:url: https://time.com/3917671/rupert-murdoch-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c25e5a4b392e894/6988541ee20a87b7a8a8bcc1/1101770117_400.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 400 og:image:height: 225 og:image:alt: Jan. 17, 1977 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rupert Murdoch: How His Career Got Started twitter:description: An Australian gambling game has something to do with it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c25e5a4b392e894/6988541ee20a87b7a8a8bcc1/1101770117_400.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Rupert Murdoch First Got Into the Media Business > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 11, 2015 8:07 PM UTC  The Jan. 17, 1977, cover of TIME The Jan. 17, 1977, cover of TIMECover Credit: TED THAI  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jun 11, 2015 8:07 PM UTC Media titan Rupert Murdoch is preparing to step down as CEO of 21st Century Fox and turn over the reins to his sons, according to [reports](http://time.com/3917675/rupert-murdoch-fox-steps-down/) on Thursday. The move would continue a family legacy as media empire builders that reaches back to Murdoch’s father, Sir Keith Murdoch. A reporter for the Melbourne _Age_ who made his name covering the Australian soldiers involved at Gallipoli during World War I, Keith Murdoch went on to thrive as a media executive. But he had little equity in the properties he ran–a lesson not lost on his ambitious son. In a 1977 story, TIME explained how the gambling-loving Rupert Murdoch parlayed his father’s few remaining holdings into a global media behemoth: --- > “” --- In the late 1960s, Murdoch’s burgeoning empire expanded to include London papers and related ventures. His first experiment in the U.S. was a paper in San Antonio, and by 1976, he had the New York _Post_. By[ 1985](http://time.com/vault/issue/1985-04-01/page/80/) he’d bought half of 20th Century Fox, and he purchased the rest shortly after. **_Read the full story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [The Battle of New York](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-01-17/page/79/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3917671/rupert-murdoch-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3917671/rupert-murdoch-history/"},"headline":"How Rupert Murdoch First Got Into the Media Business","datePublished":"2015-06-11T20:07:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:07:23.027Z","description":"The media mogul is getting ready to cut back on his work. 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