News Corp To Buy Arab Media Giant Rotana: Seeking Remaining Niche

by Yuliya Talmazan | September 2, 2009 at 12:43 pm

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Media conglomerate News Corp. under the direction of businessman Rupert Murdoch is planning to buy a 20% stake in Arab media and entertainment network Rotana. The network is the largest entertainment company in the Arab world owned by Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal. Rotana is a conglomerate with businesses in the spheres of film production, magazine publishing, television, and record labels. Recenty, Yahoo bought Maktoob.com, an Internet service company based out of Jordan, revealing an interest to tap into Arab market while such opportunity exists. News Corp. seems to be entertaining similar thoughts.

News Corp., which is the parent of both FOX Business and Dow Jones, is in talks to take a 20% stake in Rotana from the billionaire prince, the wire service reported.

Bin Talal’s holding company Kingdom Holding Co., which owns Rotana, has a 5.7 percent stake in News Corp (NYSE: NWS). and the prince has long standing ties with Rupert Murdoch the story says.

The WSJ said, 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.

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