Elisabeth Murdoch

Elisabeth Murdoch is Rupert Murdoch's daughter. She is the partner of Matthew Freud (she had a daughter with him in December 2000 and married him in August 2001) and a close friend of Peter Mandelson. She is the former Managing Director of BSkyB's programming division (where she was paid £225,000 and a £275,000 bonus). In May 2000 Elisabeth Murdoch said that "being motivated by greed is something no one in my family should ever be accused of". She left BSkyB in May 2000, but retains a seat on News Corporation's Executive Committee. BSkyB is 40% owned by Rupert Murdoch.

She was appointed by Chris Smith's Department of Culture to the board of the National Film and Television School. She is a Non-Executive Director of Future Network, who publish magazines like Official Playstation Magazine. She also has a stake in Oxygen Holdings, an internet investment fund set up with Matthew Freud, Martin Edwards of Manchester United and Keith Harris, the former Head of Investment Banking at the HSBC bank. They have put money into Toyzone.co.uk (a toy retailer), Gipsymedia (a television listings business) and Solomon Sports Analysis (an online racing tips service). She runs her own television company providing programmes for BSkyB..

She ran a TV network called EP Communications in America with her former husband Elkin Pianim. They set up the company in 1994 with a $31 million loan from Rupert Murdoch and she made $12 million when they sold it 16 months later. The TV stations were made profitable by "cutting costs", a boss's euphemism for sacking staff. A local journalist at the time said that he thought "they were rather brutal in the handling of the staff...cold and calculating".