Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is considering paying between US$250 million (Dh918.2m) and $350m for a 20 per cent stake in Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's Rotana media empire, according to Variety magazine.
The US weekly reported that News Corp and Rotana were meeting in London about the deal, and had been in talks since the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
Executives also met in Cairo this summer to conduct due diligence and try to reach a value on the stake News Corp planned to take in Rotana.
"The deal hasn't closed yet, but the signs are promising," one Rotana executive, who wished to remain anonymous, told Variety. "If it goes through, this will be all positive for Rotana. We will be able to draw on the expertise of people from News Corp and its Fox division in the Middle East."
The deal would strengthen the relationship between Mr Murdoch and Prince Alwaleed, who owns a 5.7 per cent stake in News Corp through his investment vehicle, Kingdom Holdings.
It would also deepen the connections between News Corp and Rotana, which launched two channels with News Corp's Fox International Channels last year.
As the first major News Corp investment in the Middle East, the deal would also boost the international media conglomerate's presence in the region, which is one of its last untapped markets.
Twentieth Century Fox, which is owned by News Corp, is now casting for its first Arabic-language feature film, Samba, about a Moroccan man obsessed with a Brazilian TV melodrama who teaches a samba class full of young women eager to woo him.
It is being made by Hicham Ayouch, the Moroccan filmmaker who met Fox officials at last year's The Circle Conference in Abu Dhabi.
Mr Ayouch was granted the conference's $100,000 Sasha Grant, which was presented by Jim Gianopulos, the chairman and chief executive of Fox Filmed Entertainment.
Rotana is a major force in Middle East media with holdings in print, television, radio, film, digital and most notably music, in which it holds the largest single catalogue of Arabic-language music in the world. It also owns the rights to more than 2,000 Arabic movies.
News Corp is one of the world's largest media conglomerates, owning many media brands such as BSkyB, The Sunday Times, The New York Post, Harper Collins, National Geographic Channels, Fox film and television holdings and MySpace.
@Email:khagey@thenational.ae
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Sri Lanka World Cup squad
Dimuth Karunaratne (c), Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Thisara Perera, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kusal Mendis, Isuru Udana, Milinda Siriwardana, Avishka Fernando, Jeevan Mendis, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal.
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Austrian Grand Prix race timings
Weekend schedule for Austrian Grand Prix - all timings UAE
Friday
Noon-1.30pm First practice
4-5.30pm Second practice
Saturday
1-2pm Final practice
4pm Qualifying
Sunday
4pm Austrian Grand Prix (71 laps)
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
The specs: 2018 Audi R8 V10 RWS
Price: base / as tested: From Dh632,225
Engine: 5.2-litre V10
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 540hp @ 8,250rpm
Torque: 540Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.4L / 100km