News Corp shells out $70m for 9% of Rotana

After months of negotiations, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has agreed to buy a 9.09% share of Saudi media giant Rotana for $70 million, according to a report from Reuters, via Arabianbusiness.com.

Under the deal, News Corp also has an option to double its stake to 18.18% up to 18 months after completion.

The amount is far smaller than the $250 million to $350 million that Variety predicted for the deal last September. Assuming News Corp exercised its option to buy the second stake at the same rate, it would only have shelled out $140 million for the slice of Rotana.

“This is a qualitative leap not just for Rotana but for the whole Arab world,” said Rotana owner Prince Alwaleed bin Talal at a press conference, quoted AB/Reuters.

“We are set to gain deep experience from News Corp... on television, movie production and technology,” he added.

Now, like one of those pictures of tails eating their own snakes (er...), Prince Alwaleed owns 7% of News Corp, which in turn owns 9% of Rotana, which is owned by Prince Alwaleed, who owns...

Anyway, there we go. Murdoch’s got his claws into a big chunk of Middle East media. Let’s see what happens next...