News Corp to swap JV for stake in Moby

News Corp is to take a minority stake in Dubai-based media group Moby, which is active in Afghanistan and other parts of central Asia and the Middle East.

News Corp will fold its 50% shareholding in Broadcast Middle East, its Farsi broadcasting joint venture with Moby, into the group in exchange for a minority shareholding in Moby. News Corp will also provide capital to Moby for its expansion plans.

Moby will continue to be chaired by Saad Mohseni, while Zaid Mohseni will continue to serve as CEO of Broadcast Middle East.

The latter operates Farsi 1, which launched in 2009, and also launched female-skewed Zemzemeh last year. At the time, News Corp and Moby said they planned to launch another channel with an unspecified theme.