Mon Dec 19, 2011 6:54PM GMT
Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has invested USD 300 million into the microblogging service Twitter to persuade more users and attract more advertisers.
Alwaleed, also the king's nephew, is the largest individual investor in Citigroup Inc. and owner of a stake in News Corp. He is one of the Arab world's richest men, holding assets worth an estimated USD 21 billion.
Twitter has been increasingly popular in the Arab world, where it had significant role in the recent social uprisings across North Africa and the Persian Gulf.
The winner microblogging site now has more than 100 million active users and is part of an elite group of Internet companies that have rapidly attracted users and carry multibillion dollar valuations.
Arabic-language messaging is said to be the fastest-growing segment on Twitter among other applied languages.
“We believe that social media will fundamentally change the media industry landscape in the coming years,” the Kingdom Holding's executive director of private equity and international investments, Ahmed Reda Halawani, said in a statement.
“Twitter will capture and monetize this positive trend.”
Leading the 2011 Arab Rich List, Alwaleed and his investment company decided to purchase a “strategic stake” in Twitter that means owning more than 3 percent, Halawani added. He also stated that the investment followed several months of negotiations.
FGP/TE
No comments:
Post a Comment