Global media group News Corp. has increased its stake in Rotana Group by acquiring newly-issued shares in the company. The acquisition was announced after a Rotana board meeting, chaired by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, chairman of Rotana Holding. News Corp will pay $35 million for the shares, which will take its stake in Rotana to 18.97%. News Corp had previously owned 14.53%.

According to a survey by The Arab Media Forum, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal ranks as one of the most influential figures in the Arab media industry. Prince Alwaleed has a strong presence and influence through his investments in media and entertainment companies. He recently invested $300 million in the micro-blogging site Twitter. 

Alarab, a television news station being launched by Saudi Arabian prince Alwaleed bin Talal, will be based in Bahrain. It was previously announced that the station would be based in either Bahrain or Dubai. Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, president of Bahrain's Information Affairs Authority confirmed that "the IAA reached an agreement on December 12 to launch Alarab news channel from Manama".

Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal has invested $300 million in Twitter. With Twitter's worth currently estimated at $8 billion, the investment amounts to a 3.75% stake. The prince, who is the second largest investor in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, has taken the stake with his Kingdom Holding Company investment firm. "Our investment in Twitter reaffirms our ability in identifying suitable opportunities to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact," said Alwaleed in a statement.

Arab News reports that Rotana Holding has won the Licensee of the Year-EMEA and Best Catalog Performance-EMNA at Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Licensee Conference-Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

Zawya Dow Jones reports that reference to Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal's plan to launch a new 24-hour Arabic news TV channel, it has been announced that the channel will be headed by the known journalist Jamal Khashoggi, former editor of Saudi-based Al Watan newspaper. The news channel will be launched in partnership with Fox Network, and will compete with Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, giving viewers yet another addition and alternative.

Talking to Bloomberg TV, Arabian Business reports that Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is planning to start a regional news channel, one that would compete with Al-Arabiya and A-Jazeera. This investment is something that Prince Alwaleed will be doing personally, and not produced through Kingdom Holding or Rotana. According to Bloomberg, the news channel would borrow from the business model used at Rupert Murdoch’s Fox and Sky News channels while broadcasting different content in the Middle East.