Los Angeles — Twitter Inc., the immensely popular microblogging and social networking outfit with more than 100 million ardent followers around the globe, now has a new stakeholder under its wing. Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, through his firm Kingdom Holding Co., made a princely investment of $300 million into Twitter, as it prepares a redesign of its site to attract advertisers, according to Bloomberg reports.
Prince Al-waleed bin Talal, the new stakeholder in Twitter, is ranked one of the world’s richest Arab businessman by Arabian Business Magazine, is a frequent tech investor boasting a highly impressive investment record, with an estimated $19.6 billion fortune, according to Forbes.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud (Image Credit: Kingdom Holding Co.)
He also happens to be the nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Alsaud. Since long, Alwaleed has invested into myriad of firms, including banking, real estate, and hotel management. In addition to these sectors, in the technology industry, the prince owns stock in or has made investments into Apple, Hewlett Packard, Motorola and numerors others. According to CNET, during the dot-com boom, he was heavily focused on Web companies, pouring funds in to various Web companies such as Priceline.
Twitter did not immediately respond to questions about the investment, but according to Bloomberg, the new investor reportedly acquired “strategic stakes” in the social networking site after prolonged negotiations through his Kingdom Holding Company.
“Our investment in Twitter affirms our expertise in pinpointing suitable opportunities to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact,” stated bin Talal, according to a report by The Telegraph.
With this impressive investment in the social media start-up, Prince Talal is adding a flourishing brand name to his international investment portfolio that largely includes established giants like Apple, Citigroup and Walt Disney.
A ‘calculated investment’ according to Ahmed Halawani, a Kingdom Holding director, represents more than 3 percent. This huge investment would elevate the San Francisco-based company to a valuation beyond $10 billion. Twitter’s last funding round, led in August by DST Global, brought the micro-blogging service’s valuation to $8 billion.
Twitter officials, however, declined from providing more details of the deal. But, the five-year-old microblogging outfit, which now boasts more than 100 million registered users, who on average post about one billion tweets every week, has quickly evolved into a universal communications tool, allowing individuals and companies to broadcast and share information in real-time.
Prince Talal acknowledged Twitter’s significance in world affairs, saying that the social network has a “global impact.” According to Bloomberg, the latest funds will be utilized to bolster up and revamp advertising on Twitter.
Just earlier this month, Twitter rolled out a major redesign that delivers a simplified version of the site to the desktop and mobile apps. The update revamps the layout of the Twitter timeline and users’ profiles. It also bundled a new discovery tool, overhauls the @Mentions section, and provides an easy-access “tweet” button.
Twitter also mentions the redecoration is “just the beginning… We now have a framework in place that we will quickly build and iterate upon to help users connect with whatever is meaningful to them.”
However, his Twitter stake holdings might be the most ironic. During the “Arab Spring” revolutionaries embraced Twitter as a means to energize support and organize protests. The trouble that leaders faced in Egypt and Libya nearly spilled over into Saudi Arabia before the government offered up a multifaceted spending plan to quell the unrest. In other words, the very tool the Saudi prince is investing in could have been used by protesters to organize revolts and eventually lead to his family’s downfall.
Although Prince Talal does not appears to be a social media buff, his wife, Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel is an avid user with more than 84,000 followers. On Monday, she sent out a Twitter message, calling her husband’s social networking investment “a great planned move.”
Furthermore to investments from Alwaleed, another major stakeholder in Twitter is Yuri Milner-the well known billionaire from Russia who also happens to be the owner of Digital Sky Technologies.
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