Prince splurges $300 mn on Twitter

Saudi billionaire prince Alwaleed bin Talal, an investor in some of the world’s top companies, has bought a stake in Twitter for $300 million, gaining another foothold in the global media industry.

Alwaleed, a nephew of Saudi Arabia’s king and estimated by Forbes magazine to be the 26th richest person in the world with a fortune worth $19.6 billion, already owns seven per cent in News Corp and plans to start a cable news channel.

The purchase is remarkable as Twitter was a key means of communication for protesters in this year’s Arab Spring revolts which also threatened Saudi Arabia until the kingdom unveiled a populist $130 billion social spending package.

Twitter, which allows people to send 140-character messages, or tweets, to groups of followers, is one of the internet’s most popular social networking services.

The Twitter stake, bought jointly by Alwaleed and his Kingdom Holding Co investment firm, resulted from “months of negotiations,” the kingdom said.

Bernhard Warner, co-founder of analysis and advisory firm Social Media Influence, said: “The Arab world, of course, knows full well the value of Twitter. In the past year, it has been a force in politics, in regime change, so there is not a single person in that region in a position of influence who is not following the increasing power of Twitter.”

Alwaleed, who has a sizeable stake in Citigroup, has spoken in favour of broader political participation and effective job creation across the Arab world.