Hello,
According to AOL Time Warner's March proxy statement (1), there are
two entities that own at least 5% of AOL common stock. They are
Capital Resource and Management Co. of Los Angeles (7.1%) and FMR
Corp. of Boston (5%).
Capital Resource & Management (www.capgroup.com) and FMR Corp.
(www.fidelity.com) are mutual-fund companies. Their stake in AOL
represents the individual investments of many smaller investors.
The 22 insiders listed in AOL's proxy statement control a combined
4.7% of its common stock. Most of that (3.23%) belongs to R.E. "Ted"
Turner, the founder of CNN. The only other insiders with at least 1
million shares are AOL co-founder Steve Case and former Netscape
President James Barksdale, an AOL director. The biographies of the
insiders make no mention of any Saudi or Arab connection.
In addition to its common stock, AOL has another type of stock, all of
which is owned by Liberty Media Corp. of Englewood, Colo. Under AOL's
rules, Liberty Media's votes count far less than the votes of owners
of common stock. Liberty Media is owned and controled largely by
longtime Liberty executive John Malone and the family of Bob Magness,
the late founder of the company. (2)
Yahoo! lists several other institutional investors who own big chunks
of AOL. See (http://biz.yahoo.com/hd/a/aol.html). Combined, those
institutional investors own most of AOL's common stock.
The rest of AOL is owned by regular investors who buy shares on the
open market. Because they each own less than 5% of the company and are
not insiders, they usually need not publicize their holdings. One
investor who has boasted of his investments in AOL is Saudi Prince
Alwaleed bin Alsaud. The prince claimed to own $1.4 billion in AOL
stock in 2000 (3), which was less than 1% of the company's outstanding
stock. In 2002, Alwaleed said he bought another $450 million of AOL
stock. (4)
So here's what we can say about AOL:
-- Most of the company is owned by institutional investors on behalf
of mutual-fund shareholders and other smaller investors.
-- The biggest chunk of AOL owned by an individual is likely that of
Ted Turner, but no one person or group of people owns a controlling
interest in the company.
-- One Saudi prince says he has invested (and lost) a lot of money in
AOL, but owns less than 5% of the company.
-- No Saudi or Arab concern has any representative on AOL's board of
directors, and no director has any evident connection to any such
concern.
I hope this answer meets your needs. If not, please request
clarification.
References
(1) AOL Time Warner, "Notice and Proxy Statement" March 2003
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1105705/000095013003002628/ddef14a.htm
(2) Liberty Media Corp., "Schedule 14a Information," April 2003
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1082114/000095012303004785/y85746def14a.htm
(3) David Teather, "Saudi Prince Swells AOL Stake," The Guardian,
April 7, 2000
http://www.guardian.co.uk/efinance/article/0,2763,180932,00.html
(4) David Dukcevich, "Prince Alwaleed: The Anti-Buffett?" Forbes.com,
March 11, 2002
http://www.forbes.com/2002/03/11/0311alwaleed.html
Search strategy:
SEC Edgar
://www.google.fr/search?sourceid=navclient&q=sec+edgar
AOL Saudi
://www.google.fr/search?sourceid=navclient&q=aol+saudi
alwaleed AOL
://www.google.fr/search?sourceid=navclient&q=alwaleed+aol |