邓文迪和默多克签署离婚协议 或将分得豪宅

Media baron Rupert Murdoch and his soon-to-be-ex-wife said they were parting with "mutual respect" on Wednesday after telling a judge they had reached a divorce deal.

The chairman of News Corp and 21st Century Fox and his wife of 14 years, Wendi Deng Murdoch, shook hands and briefly hugged after a brief proceeding in a Manhattan court. The terms of the agreement weren't disclosed in court. The divorce is said to have cost Murdoch $1.7 billion, including a cool $100 million in cash. Deng Murdoch is expected to keep the couple's home in Beijing and their Fifth Avenue apartment in Manhattan, purchased in 2004 for a then-record $US44 million.

"We are pleased to announce that we have reached an amicable settlement of all matters relating to our divorce," the two said in a statement released through a publicist. "We move forward with mutual respect and a shared interest in the health and happiness of our two daughters."

The divorce isn't technically final; it will happen after state Supreme Court Justice Ellen Gesmer signs some yet-to-be-submitted paperwork.

The settlement is largely based on two prenuptial agreements and two "postnuptial" agreements that modified the original agreements, a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

The divorce will end a third marriage for Rupert Murdoch, 82, who got his start in his family's newspaper business in his native Australia and built a global media conglomerate. Forbes pegged his and his family's wealth at $US13.4 billion in September.

The divorce won't affect control of the News Corp and 21st Century Fox or the succession plan for them. Rupert Murdoch controls them through a family trust that benefits his four children from previous marriages. Upon Rupert Murdoch's death, all four will have an equal say in what happens to the roughly 38 percent voting stock the trust holds in both companies.

He and Wendi Deng Murdoch, 44, have two school-age daughters, Grace and Chloe. They are beneficiaries of 8.7 million non-voting shares being held in a separate trust. Wendi Deng Murdoch is not a shareholder, according to the person familiar with the situation.

Born in China, Wendi Deng Murdoch is a Yale graduate who worked as a junior executive at News Corp's subsidiary Star TV in Hong Kong, where she met her now-husband at a 1997 cocktail party. She left Star TV before marrying the media mogul in 1999 aboard Murdoch's private yacht, in New York.

She produced the 2011 movie Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, released by News Corp's Fox Searchlight.

Wendi Deng Murdoch literally leaped into the spotlight when she jumped up to smack a protester who was throwing a cream pie at her husband during a 2011 British parliamentary hearing into phone hacking by News Corp newspapers.

The couple had residences in New York, London, Beijing and elsewhere that were the subject of negotiations in their divorce.

传媒大亨鲁伯特•默多克和华裔妻子邓文迪当天宣布达成离婚协议，并表示是带着对对方的尊重分开的。

默多克和邓文迪在纽约曼哈顿法院签署了离婚协议，现场气氛融洽，双方在出庭后还简单地握手拥抱。离婚协议的具体条款未在法院公布。据知情人士透露，默多克为离婚“破费”17亿美元，其中包括1亿美元现金；邓文迪预计将获得夫妇二人位于北京和曼哈顿第五大道的房产，前者是故宫边的豪华四合院，后者是2004年以4400万美元购置的。

两人发表声明说：“我们很高兴地宣布，已经就离婚事宜达成和解。我们相互尊重，共同关心两个女儿的健康和幸福。”

从法律意义上来说，目前两人的离婚手续还未完成。两人还要提交一些文件，等州最高法院大法官埃伦•格斯梅尔签署后，离婚方可生效。

据知情人士19日透露，这项离婚协议是根据夫妇二人的两项婚前协议和两项婚后协议拟定的。

这次离婚是默多克的第三次婚变。现年82岁的鲁伯特•默多克在出生地澳大利亚靠家族报业发家，并创建了一个跨国传媒集团。福布斯估计默多克家族的财产在今年九月份达到了134亿美元。

默多克的第三次婚变不会改变资讯集团和21世纪福克斯公司的控制权和继承计划。默多克通过一个家族信托基金控制着公司，他和两位前妻所生的四个子女将从中受益。在默多克死后，这四个子女将平等地享有对两个公司38%的有表决权股票的继承权。

现年82岁的默多克和44岁的邓文迪育有两个在上小学的女儿，格蕾丝和克洛艾。她们是870万股无投票权的单独信托基金的受益人。据知情人透露，邓文迪不是股票持有人。

在中国出生的邓文迪毕业于耶鲁大学，曾在默多克资讯集团下属的香港星空传媒工作，并于1997年在一次鸡尾酒会上结识默多克。1999年她离开了星空传媒，随后和这位媒体大亨在纽约的一艘私人游艇上成婚。

她曾担当2011年美国福克斯探照灯公司发行的电影《雪花秘扇》的制片人。

2011年她丈夫在英国国会下属委员会的听证会上，为《世界资讯报》电话窃听丑闻作供时，一个抗议者向默多克扔奶油馅饼，邓文迪立即起身掌掴抗议者，这一举动使她迅速成为媒体关注焦点。

这对夫妇在纽约、伦敦、北京等地都有居所，这些房产都是离婚谈判的主题。