NEW YORK – News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch has sold most of his non-voting shares in the entertainment conglomerate, according to a regulatory filing.
A source said the sale, disclosed in a regulatory filing late Friday, was a pure financial planning move that will not reduce his voting stake in the company. Some other moguls and industry executives regularly sell small amounts of stock in their companies to raise money that they can use or put into their estate.
The Financial Times reported that the sale reverses stock purchases made in February, which had been highlighted as a signal of Murdoch’s confidence in the company’s outlook.
A News Corp. spokesman declined to comment on the stock sale.
According to the regulatory filing, the 80-year-old Murdoch sold 3.63 million class A non-voting shares at prices of between $16.60 and $17.26. Overall, the sale netted him around $61.7 million, according to the FT.
Because the sale was of non-voting stock, it won’t dilute the Murdoch family’s 40 percent voting stake in News Corp.
Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com
Twitter: @georgszalai
