DETROIT – Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian said Tuesday his investment firm sold 7.3 million of its shares in Ford Motor Co. for a fraction of what he paid, cutting his stake in the automaker to just over 6 percent.
Kerkorian has tried to leave his mark on Detroit-based automakers over the past decade. But his investment firm Tracinda Corp. said it sees value elsewhere in industries such as gambling, hotels and oil and gas.
The sale probably resulted in millions of dollars in losses for Kerkorian, who in June purchased 20 million of the Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker's shares at market rates after meeting with the company's management to boost his stake to 6.49 percent.
A week before that, Kerkorian had acquired 20 million Ford shares through a tender offer for about $170 million, or $8.50 per share.
Tracinda said Tuesday that it sold the 7.3 million shares at $2.43 a share, 10 cents above Ford's Monday closing price. It also said it plans to further reduce its holdings of Ford common stock and may sell its remaining 133,500,000 shares depending on market conditions.
Ford shares were down 7 cents to $2.26 in premarket trading Tuesday. They have traded as low as $1.88 this year.
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