Rupert Murdoch finally sold his Manhattan penthouse for about half what he paid. Take a look inside the $23.8 million apartment.
Compass
- Rupert Murdoch finally sold his three-floor New York City apartment for $23.8 million.
- The media mogul spent years trying to sell the property, which was listed for $62 million in 2022.
- Photos show inside the penthouse, which offers 360-degree views of Manhattan.
After a yearslong search, Rupert Murdoch, the 93-year-old billionaire media mogul, appears to have finally found a buyer for his nearly 7,000-square-foot penthouse in New York City, close to the Flatiron building and Madison Square Park.
Back in the summer, Murdoch slashed the price to $28.5 million, about half its original listing price, in his latest bid to sell the property.
The nonagenarian finally parted ways with the penthouse for $23.8 million, according to the Robb Report.
Compass, the real estate agency carrying the listing, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The former chair of the Fox Corporation and News Corp., who married his fifth wife, Elena Zhukova, in June at his private vineyard in Bel-Air, California, briefly listed the three-floor apartment for $72 million in 2015. In 2022, Murdoch apparently listed it in earnest, asking for $62 million.
In the years since the listing price steadily dropped. After briefly being taken off the market in December 2023, the property was re-listed in April for $38.5 million, nearly half its original price tag. Two months later, it was slashed by a further $10 million.
The apartment may have very well been a thorn in Murdoch's newlywed bliss — although not a huge thorn perhaps, given Murdoch is worth $12 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Take a look inside the $23.8 million penthouse apartment.
Apostolis Giontzis/Shutterstock
After calling it quits with his third wife, Wendi Deng, in 2013, Murdoch was on the lookout for a new bachelor pad.
In their divorce settlement, Deng, who was married to Murdoch for 14 years, kept the Fifth Avenue triplex the couple bought for $44 million in 2005, New York Magazine reported.
Murdoch purchased two apartments at One Madison Square, a luxury condominium at the start of Madison Avenue, built in 2011. He purchased the building's three-floor penthouse for $43 million, along with a slightly smaller unit on 57th floor in 2014.
Curbed reported that Murdoch initially lived in the smaller apartment — if you can call 3,300 square feet small — until the penthouse was completed.
Compass
The apartment was constructed by architect Jose Ramirez, who specializes in luxury interior design, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Per the listing, the first level has an open-plan layout, comprised of a double-height "Great Room" connected to a 586-square-foot terrace overlooking Manhattan, a dining room, kitchen, library, and bathroom.
A spiral staircase and elevator connect the first floor to the second, which houses two bedrooms with en suites and staff quarters.
Another staircase and elevator go up to the third floor, with two more bedrooms with en suites and an expansive primary suite.
Compass
Less than a year after buying the penthouse pre-completion, Murdoch briefly put it back on the market for a whopping $72 million, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2015.
Around the same time, Murdoch bought a $25 million townhouse in the West Village.
Murdoch changed his mind again five months later, taking the penthouse off the market and, instead, putting the townhouse back on, Curbed reported.
Compass
Murdoch relisted the penthouse in 2022, leading some to question if the Australian was done with the Big Apple, where he's had a base since the 1970s after buying The New York Post.
If Murdoch had been looking to move out of NYC, he would've had plenty of other homes to live in.
As Architectural Digest reported, the Murdoch family has a "staggering" real-estate portfolio, which includes an Australian ranch, a $28.8 million California vineyard, and an apartment in London's ritzy Mayfair neighborhood.
The New York Times last year reported that Murdoch bought a seven-bedroom apartment on the 27th floor of a historic building overlooking Central Park for $35.2 million.
Victoria Jones/PA/Getty Images
Selling a lavish pad is no easy feat in 2024.
As BI's real estate reporter Alcynna Lloyd previously reported, a number of celebrities and ultrawealthy homeowners — particularly those with property in NYC — found themselves in similar positions to Murdoch.
Kenny Lee, a senior economist at StreetEasy, told Lloyd that a slowdown in demand is at the crux of a real-estate slump.
It's even led some wealthy homeowners to auction or rent their pricey digs, an option Murdoch may no longer consider after washing his hands with his former bachelor pad.
