Weekend Investor
10 money-making investment ideas for 2012
1.By Ellen Knickmeyer
--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
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Of ZAWYA DOW JONES
RIYADH (Zawya Dow Jones) -- Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and his Kingdom Holding Co. 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.
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.
