Dec 19 2011 |
more articles from
|
UPDATE: Prince Alwaleed Buys $300M "Strategic" Stake in Twitter
Monday, Dec 19, 2011
--Prince Alwaleed, Kingdom Holding buy strategic stake in Twitter
--Part of strategy to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with global impact
--Says social media will fundamentally change the media industry landscape
By Ellen Knickmeyer
RIYADH (Zawya Dow Jones)--Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and his Kingdom Holding Co. (4280.SA) Monday announced their purchase of a $300 million stake in Twitter, calling it a strategic investment in a company they said is remaking the media landscape.
The Twitter purchase represents the prince's drive "to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact," an emailed statement from Kingdom Holding quoted the Saudi prince as saying.
Prince Alwaleed, rated by Arabian Business magazine as the Arab world's richest man, with more than $21 billion in wealth in 2011, had been cited in news reports since October as pursuing a purchase of Twitter shares from one of the co-founders of the social media company.
The $300 million investment represents a more than 3% stake in the microblogging website, which was at late summer valued at $8 billion.
"Social media will fundamentally change the media industry landscape in the coming years. Twitter will capture and monetize this positive trend," Ahmed Halawani, executive director of private equity and international investments at Kingdom Holding , said in the statement.
Prince Alwaleed, who owns 95% of Kingdom Holding , has focused his investments on banks, hotels and media companies, building sizable stakes in companies such as Citigroup Inc. (C), News Corp. (NWS), Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Time Warner Inc. (TWX). News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of this newswire and The Wall Street Journal.
In August, Kingdom Holding said its associate firm Jeddah Economic Co. had inked a SAR4.6 billion deal with the local Bin Laden Group to build the world's tallest tower in Jeddah on the Red Sea.
Kingdom Holding 's shares Sunday closed down 1.9% at 7.85 Saudi riyals ($2.09) on the Riyadh bourse.
-By Ellen Knickmeyer, Dow Jones Newswires, +971 55 1093359, ellen.knickmeyer@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
19-12-11 0651GMT
Zawya Comment Policy
-
Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse. - The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
- Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
- By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
Copyright © 2012 Zawya Ltd. All rights reserved. |
provided by www.zawya.com |
Post Your Comment