Rupert Murdoch exposed as Saudi billionaire Alwaleed sells most of stake in News Corp

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal’s investment firm sold a stake valued at almost $US190 million in News Corp, reducing its holding in Rupert Murdoch’s media company to about 1 per cent.

Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding cut its ownership of Class B shares to 2 million from 13.2 million, or 6.6 per cent, it said in a statement to the Saudi bourse Wednesday. The sale generated 705 million riyals ($241.7 million), which will be used for other investments, it said. Through Kingdom, Prince Alwaleed holds stakes in companies including Citigroup and Twitter.

Rupert Murdoch lost his Saudi prince and his Australian media empire is now vulnerable

The Sun King, Rupert Murdoch, lost the support of his prince last week – and almost lost control of his media empire as a result.

But the real problem for Murdoch is that this war is far from over, and there are serious implications for News Corp’s struggling print empire in Australia – the weak underbelly that will be targeted by investors.

Long time Murdoch backer, the Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, kept on the sidelines last week as the News Corp founder faced an unprecedented investor revolt against the structure that entrenches his family’s control of the company with a minority stake.

The Murdoch family owns just 12 per cent of News Corp, but they own 40 per cent of the shares which control the company.

Saudi Prince: Fracking Is Threat To Kingdom

For more information on Prince Alwaleed, who also owns a 19% stake in Fox News, please click here.

As the fracking revolution eases demand for the kingdom’s oil and gas, a billionaire prince warns his nation to find new income.

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Billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said the Gulf Arab kingdom needed to reduce its reliance on crude oil and diversify its revenues.

His warning comes as rising shale energy supplies in the United States cut global demand for Saudi oil.