In a Largest Ranch Sale Murdoch Buys Ranch for $200 Million

Rupert Murdoch and his wife just became the new owners of a $200 million cattle ranch, formerly owned by the Koch family. The 90-year-old media tycoon bought the 340,000-acre property, known as Beaverhead. Murdoch bought the property from Matador Cattle Co., a unit of Koch Industries. The deal is the largest ranch sale in Montana history, and comes about 70 years after Fred Koch, founder of the crude oil company that would later become Koch Industries, originally bought it. The ranch is in southwest Montana near Yellowstone National Park, and features elk, antelope and mule deer. There’s also a 28-mile long river for trout fishing and 25 homes. Murdoch, a political conservative who controls a media empire that includes the Fox News Channel and Wall Street Journal, is worth $8.8 billion.. He married Jerry Hall, his fourth wife, in 2016. Fred Koch’s son, Charles, who now runs Koch Industries, is one of the most significant donors in recent history to libertarian and conservative causes