New York - US billionaire-investor Kirk Kerkorian has sold off the last of his shares in Ford Motor Co, less than a year after he bought a significant stake in the US car giant, according to media reports Monday. A spokesperson for Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp confirmed that it no longer owned any shares in Ford, the Wall Street Journal reported.
There was no immediate response from the carmaker. Ford shares fell more than 3 per cent in trading on Monday to 2.22 dollars.
With the widening recession and the US car industry in turmoil, Ford is considered to be in the best position of the so-called Detroit Big Three carmakers and has said it can survive without federal funding. General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC are to receive a 13.4-billion-dollar emergency loan to keep afloat through the winter.
Kerkorian's move was inevitable. In October, months after increasing his stake in Ford, Kerkorian said he was pulling back from the ailing carmaker.
His Tracinda Corp sold 7.3 million shares of Ford stock on October 21, for 2.43 dollars each. He had purchased the shares for 8.50 dollars earlier this year. At the time, Tracinda said it was considering unloading its remaining 133 million shares.
The October move came days after Kerkorian put 50 million shares of his MGM Mirage casino behind the 600-million-dollar credit line he had used to buy Ford stock.
He said in light of the current economic climate, he wanted to focus on his other holdings, including hotels and casinos and energy.
Kerkorian, 91, had controlled just over 6 per cent of the carmaker and was the second largest shareholder after the Ford family.
Often controversial, Kerkorian has a reputation in Detroit for his previous attempt to influence the running of GM. Three years ago, Tracinda described its first investment in GM as "strictly passive" and voiced support for its management.
But Kerkorian later built his stake as high as 9.9 per cent as he stepped up pressure on CEO Rick Wagoner to take bold action to transform the company that is vying to maintain its spot as the world's largest carmaker.
