Saudi prince says no change in News Corp investment

Saudi prince says no change in News Corp investment

"No change, my investment is strategic, not thinking of selling anything," he told Reuters by telephone. "The crisis does not make Kingdom Holding blink at all. It makes our partnership stronger."

July 11, 2011 9:18 by Reuters

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said on Sunday there would be no change in his Kingdom Holding’s investment in News Corp .
“No change, my investment is strategic, not thinking of selling anything,” he told Reuters by telephone. “The crisis does not make Kingdom Holding blink at all. It makes our partnership stronger.”

News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch flew into London on Sunday to tackle the telephone-hacking scandal that may cost him a multi-billion dollar deal to take full control of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc .

Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding is the second biggest shareholder in News Corp and controls 7 percent of the votes, he said. News Corp owns in return 14.5 percent of Alwaleed’s Rotana Media Group.
Alwaleed said he was in contact with News Corp from the onset of the crisis and that he supported the decision to close Britain’s News of the World tabloid engulfed in the scandal.

“Since the crisis erupted I have been in touch with them to contain this problem,” he said. “Their decision to shut down this tabloid in England is supported by me because we have to put this issue behind us.”

“What happened in the scandal is a deviation from what News Corp wants now which is full control of the remaining shares (of BSkyB).” (Reporting by Asma Alsharif; Writing by Mahmoud Habboush)