Rupert Murdoch filed for divorce Thursday, seeking to break up his 14-year marriage to third wife Wendi Deng.

News of the marriage split comes just two weeks before Murdoch plans to break apart his global media empire into two separate companies.

News Corp. confirmed that its 82-year-old chief executive has filed for divorce in New York state court. Murdoch and Deng, 44, have two children, Grace, 11, and Chloe, 9. Murdoch also has four children from his previous marriages.

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The two met when Deng was a junior executive at News Corp.'s Star TV in Hong Kong in 1999. The settlement to dissolve Murdoch’s marriage to his second wife Anna was estimated at $1.7 billion, making it one of the expensive divorces ever.

The Deng divorce is not expected to affect the corporate structure of News Corp., a senior executive said. Murdoch controls almost 40% of News Corp.'s voting stock.

Forbes lists Murdoch’s net worth at $11.2 billion. The mogul’s wealth has soared in the past year as News Corp. stock has been trading at an all-time high. With the expected break-up of News Corp., Murdoch’s pay next year is expected to exceed $28 million.

[For the Record, 11:49 a.m. PDT June 13: An earlier version of this online article incorrectly listed the ages of Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng’s children, stating that Grace was 13 and Chloe was 10. In fact, Grace is 11 and Chloe is 9.]


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With company split, Murdoch’s pay is expected to reach $28.3 million