Despite being 92-years-old, Rupert Murdoch is ready to settle down … again, this time with a former molecular biologist.

It means the media tycoon is engaged for the sixth time.

He intends to wed Elena Zhukova, 67, a scientist from Russia, it was reported on Friday.

A spokesperson said the two would wed in California at Murdoch’s vineyard and estate, Moraga.

The impending nuptials come after Murdoch stepped down as chairman of Fox and News Corp, ending a more than seven-decade career at the helm of a sprawling media empire.

While Murdoch has been engaged six times, he has only been married five times. Last year, he called off his engagement to Ann Lesley Smith.

Who is Elena Zhukova?

Murdoch and Zhukova were first linked in 2023 and were spotted together on the Aristotle Onassis yacht, the Christina O, which was anchored off the island of Corfu in Greece.

They met at a party thrown by the billionaire’s third wife, Wendi Deng, with whom Murdoch maintains a good relationship.

“Murdoch invited her out after meeting at the family party, sources said … the relationship is serious and the couple has been cruising together in the Mediterranean for several weeks,” The Guardian reported at the time.

Zhukova has a daughter called Dasha, who is a Moscow-born art collector, and was once married to Roman Abramovich, a Russian oligarch who used to own Chelsea Football Club.

Dasha’s father is Alexander Zhukov, also a Russian oligarch, but he and Zhukova split when she was three, UK publication Tatler reported last year.

Zhukova and her daughter moved to the US and she worked at the medical research division at the University of California in Los Angeles, specialising in diabetes, before her retirement.

Rupert Murdoch has been married five times. Photo: Getty

Murdoch’s other marriages

Murdoch was first married in 1956 to Patricia Booker and they had one child, Prudence. They divorced in 1967.

That same year, Murdoch married Anna Torv, a journalist who was working for his papers in Sydney. Murdoch and Torv were married until 1999 and had three children, Elisabeth, Lachlan and James.

Just 17 days after divorcing Torv, Murdoch married Deng and they had two children, Grace and Chloe. They divorced in 2013.

In 2016, Murdoch married Jerry Hall in a civil ceremony in London and in a tweet, Murdoch said he felt he was the “luckiest AND happiest man in the world”.

Hall is a former model and actress who was in a long-term relationship with Rolling Stones frontman, Mick Jagger. After Hall and Murdoch split in 2022, a joint statement said the two remained “good friends”.

On St Patrick’s Day in 2023, Murdoch proposed to dental-hygienist-turned-radio host and prison chaplain Ann Lesley Smith.

“I was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love — but I knew this would be my last. It better be. I’m happy,” Murdoch said of the engagement, according to the New York Post.

However, it wasn’t long before Murdoch called off the engagement, apparently due to him being “increasingly uncomfortable” with her “outspoken evangelical views”.