Rupert Murdoch Buys Sprawling Montana Ranch From Koch Industries
Fox News founder and Wall Street Journal owner Rupert Murdoch has purchased the 340,000-acre Beaverhead Ranch in Southwest Montana from Koch Industries. The deal, worth $200 million according to reporting by both the Wall Street Journal and CNBC, makes it the largest ranch sale in Montana history.
“This is a profound responsibility,” the 90-year-old Murdoch said through a spokesman. “We feel privileged to assume ownership of this beautiful land and look forward to continually enhancing both the commercial cattle business and the conservation assets across the ranch.”
Spread across more than 500 square miles of private and leased land, the Beaverhead Ranch was purchased nearly 70 years ago by Fred Koch, founder of Koch Industries, and was operated under Matador Cattle Co. Koch Industries, which is now led by Charles Koch, who along with late brother David Koch, is known for bankrolling Republican politicians and conservative causes. The Beaverhead Ranch has 7,000 cow-calf pairs and is home to 15 families who are employed on the ranch.
John Jackson, chairman of the Beaverhead County Commission and a rancher himself, told the Billings Gazette that he’d heard about the transaction but had no details yet.
“The Koch brothers have been good neighbors,” he said, employing residents and families in Beaverhead County at the Beaverhead Ranch. He said he anticipates the Murdochs won’t make major changes.
Broker, Tim Murphy, with Hall & Hall, had this to say about the change in ownership: “It was an honor to work with the Murdoch family during the discovery process and ultimately through the completion of the sale. The (Matador) truly represents one of the great ranches in America. It offers greater scale, a robust agricultural operation, and takes in multiple mountain ranges and expansive valleys which all makes it one of the more scenic ranches of its kind.
"The Murdochs understand the importance of this landscape, and the depth of history in its operations. They have respect for the culture that continues to steward the lands through generations of ranching families who have also called the ranch their home. It takes an incredible family to own an incredible ranch. The Murdoch’s could not be more ideal to that regard; it will be fun to observe the next chapters in the history of the ranch during their tenure.”
