New York - Months after increasing his stake in Ford Motor Company, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian is pulling back from the suffering automaker.

His Tracinda Corp sold 7.3 million shares of Ford stock on Monday for 2.43 dollars each, he had purchased the shares for 8.50 dollars earlier this year. Tracinda is also considering unloading its remaining 133 million shares.

The move comes days after Kerkorian had put 50 million shares of his MGM Mirage casino behind the 600-million-dollar credit line he had used to buy Ford stock, Bloomberg financial news reported.

Kerkorian had controlled just over 6 per cent of the automaker and was the second largest shareholder after the Ford family.

He said in light of the current economic climate that he wanted to focus on his other holdings, including hotels and casinos and energy.

Kerkorian, 91, is on the list of the Forbes magazine's richest Americans. In the past he has held major stakes in DaimlerChrysler and General Motors. (dpa)