Monday 19 December 2011
Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal buys $300-million stake in Twitter
Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, an investor in some of the world's top companies, on Monday unveiled a $300 million stake purchase in fast-growing microblogging site Twitter, gaining another foothold in the global media industry.
Alwaleed, a nephew of the Saudi king with a personal net worth estimated by Forbes magazine in March to be just below $20 billion, already owns a 7 percent stake in News Corp and plans to start a cable news channel.
The Twitter stake, bought jointly by Alwaleed and his Kingdom Holding Co investment firm, resulted from "months of negotiations," Kingdom said. Shares in Kingdom jumped 5.7 percent in early trade in Saudi Arabia as investors hailed a deal in what is seen as a high-growth sector.
Applying an $8 billion valuation figure for Twitter used by some analysts, the investment by Alwaleed and Kingdom amounts to a 3.75 percent stake.
Alwaleed, a nephew of the Saudi king with a personal net worth estimated by Forbes magazine in March to be just below $20 billion, already owns a 7 percent stake in News Corp and plans to start a cable news channel.
The Twitter stake, bought jointly by Alwaleed and his Kingdom Holding Co investment firm, resulted from "months of negotiations," Kingdom said. Shares in Kingdom jumped 5.7 percent in early trade in Saudi Arabia as investors hailed a deal in what is seen as a high-growth sector.
Applying an $8 billion valuation figure for Twitter used by some analysts, the investment by Alwaleed and Kingdom amounts to a 3.75 percent stake.
