“And not a chance of that until after the midterm elections and Republicans get some power back.”
*If*.
I expect ACORN’s election fraud machine to be a political Juggernaut, by then.
9-2-09
News Corp. in Talks for Stake in Saudi Firm
DUBAI — News Corp. is in talks with Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to take a stake in Rotana Media, marking its first major investment in the Middle East, according to people familiar with the deal.
News Corp. may buy a 20% interest in Rotana from Prince Alwaleed, who controls Saudi conglomerate Kingdom Holding Co., a person involved with the deal told Zawya Dow Jones.
It’s not clear at this stage whether the deal will be for existing stock or new shares. A formal bid valuing the stake is expected this month, the person said, without giving specifics on price.
News Corp., which owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, is increasingly looking into new markets as advertising revenue in the U.S. and Europe slips. A stake in Rotana could help expand News Corp.’s presence to the more than 300 million people in the Arab world.
Rotana, which hosts Fox channels in Saudi Arabia via its TV network, owns rights to more than 2,000 Arabic movies and a large music library.
Kingdom Holding as of last year said it holds a 5.7% stake in News Corp. It has long-established business links with the family of Rupert Murdoch, the chief executive of News Corp.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125185102212377833.html
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Saudi Billionaire Boasts of Manipulating Fox News Coverage
Press Release | December 7, 2005
WASHINGTON—Accuracy in Media (AIM) is urging a full inquiry into a report that a Saudi billionaire caused the Fox News Channel (FNC) to dramatically alter its coverage of the Muslim riots in France after he called the network to complain.
The Saudi billionaire, Al-waleed bin Talal, is a friend of News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch and controls an influential number of voting shares in the company. “This report underscores the danger of giving foreign interests a significant financial stake in U.S. media companies,” declared Cliff Kincaid, editor of Accuracy in Media.
The controversial comments came at an Arab media conference featuring representatives of Time magazine, USA Today, PBS, The Wall Street Journal, and other news organizations. The conference and the Saudi Prince’s growing influence in News Corporation are among the subjects of a new December-A AIM Report that has just been posted at the AIM website (http://www.aim.org).
The report raises the specter of Arab money influencing News Corporation and other U.S. media companies. Liberal journalist Danny Schechter, a participant in the conference, reports that Al-waleed, who is a member of the Saudi Royal Family and investor in the Fox News parent company News Corporation, gave an interview boasting that he had called Fox to complain about coverage of the “Muslim riots” in France.
He said he “called as a viewer” and “convinced them to change” the coverage because “they were not Muslim riots but riots against poverty and inequality.”
And “they changed” the coverage, the Saudi reportedly said. Another report on the comments, carried by the Dubai-based newspaper the Khaleej Times, says that Al-waleed personally called Rupert Murdoch to complain. The Saudi said, “After a short while, there was a change” in the coverage.
An AIM call to Fox News asking for comment was not returned. This is not the first time that Al-waleed has made controversial statements. His $10 million contribution to a 9/11 fund was rejected when he blamed the terror attacks on U.S. Middle East policy. Fifteen of the 19 terrorist hijackers on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia.
http://www.aim.org/press-release/saudi-billionaire-boasts-of-manipulating-fox-news-coverage/
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Saudi prince takes News Corp stake
By Saeed Shah
Wednesday, 7 September 2005
Rupert Murdoch’s attempts to retain control of his News Corp media empire got a boost yesterday after his ally, the Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, took a 5.5 per cent stake in the company’s voting stock.
Mr Murdoch was forced to put in place a “poison pill” defence at News Corp, in November to stop a hostile takeover bid after a rival media magnate, John Malone, took an 18 per cent share in the company’s voting stock. News Corp has two classes of stock, with the Murdoch family owning 30 per cent of the key voting shares.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/saudi-prince-takes-news-corp-stake-505839.html