According to Tracinda Corp, the investment firm of Kirk Kerkorian, the billionaire investor has completed the withdrawal of his high-profile $1 billion stake in Ford Motor Co, by selling off all his remaining shares. For the past couple of months, he has been cutting his losses on the investment, which had lost most of its value.

In a regulatory filing in October, Tracinda - which for a brief period was Ford's largest outside investor - said it was working with bankers to sell its 133.5 million shares of the automaker, bought at an average price of $7.10 a share.

Kerkorian, 91, began buying Ford shares in April - a move that surprised investors and analysts alike. In June, at the peak of his investment, with a 6.5 percent stake in the company, Kerkorian even offered infusing additional finances to support Ford's turnaround efforts!

In fact, during the last two-year period, the activist investor had a go at all the three Detroit-based automakers as they struggled with their restructuring process. Prior to his stake in Ford, Kerkorian held a nearly 10 percent stake in General Motors Corp, and made a failed bid for Chrysler LLC last year.

Though it has not yet been confirmed how profound Tracinda's losses were on the Ford investment were, it still is estimated that the firm would have lost nearly $475 million
- based on its average purchase cost for the shares - even if these remaining shares had been sold off at the recent high for Ford stock!