Rupert Murdoch and his wife Wendi have given an expansive interview to arch competitor The New York Times – because their real estate agent advised they needed to do it to sell their Manhattan apartment.

“After paying a record-breaking $44 million for a Fifth Avenue
penthouse previously owned by Laurance S. Rockefeller – the most
expensive residence ever sold above 14th Street – the couple is trying
to sell their SoHo home at a time when the market for residential real
estate in Manhattan appears to be slowing and properties are generally
lingering in the listings longer,” reports the Times.
“Only six prospective buyers have come to see the apartment since it
was quietly put on the market in June, their broker says, and no one
has made an offer.”

In the lengthy interview, replete with pictures of the couple inside
the SoHo triplex loft they’re trying to unload for $28 million, Wendi Deng says the couple are “trying to simplify our
life.” Of course, says the paper, “these are people for whom
simplification means going from seven homes to six. The others are in
Los Angeles; London; Canberra, Australia; Carmel, Calif.; and Centre
Island, N.Y. They are also considering buying property near Beijing.”

The story itemises the apartment’s “Australian walnut doors,” its
“sleek custom-designed furniture,” “fully-outfitted gym,” “large
screening room with a 35-millimeter projector,” “bathtubs and sinks
carved from single slabs of Italian Carrara marble,” “low-lying
bookcases to leave large expanses of white wall space where Mr. Murdoch
could hang his prized collection of Australian art, including paintings
by his favorite painter, Fred Williams,” “2,700-square-foot split-level
deck [featuring] an enclosed sunroom where Mr. Murdoch reads the Sunday
papers,” and “views of the Empire State Building on one side and
downtown on the other.”

And that’s the old joint they’re trying to flog.