DETROIT — Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian’s decision to begin dumping his Ford Motor Co. (F) shares may leave the auto maker without a funding source, as losses mount and a global automotive slowdown extends into 2009. Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp. announced Tuesday that it sold 7.3 million shares of Ford common stock Monday and may sell all of its remaining 133.5 million shares – about 6.09% of the shares outstanding – depending upon market conditions and available sales prices. The move comes just months after Kerkorian, who has a long history of investing in Detroit auto makers, started building his stake in Ford, expressing confidence in the company’s management team and pledging to possibly inject additional capital to aid Ford’s turnaround efforts. ‘Ford is losing one of its last-resort strategies – the ability to tap Kerkorian’s deep pockets to help with any future liquidity crises,’ said Global Insight analyst Aaron Bragman. Were Ford’s liquidity position to fall to dangerously low levels, Kerkorian might have been able to offer up a few billion dollars to buy the company time, Bragman noted. News of Kerkorian’s exit, an indication he lost confidence in the company’s ability to recover, helped push Ford […]