[liberationtech] Saudi Prince invests $300mn in Twitter

Mon Dec 19 11:43:53 PST 2011

Well, because Facebook has a fairly poor track record on privacy and free
expression.  They've earned the scrutiny.  Thus far, Twitter has not.

On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 11:38 AM, Luke Allnutt <AllnuttL at rferl.org> wrote:

> Bet there would be a lot more outrage if it was Facebook though. :)
>
>
>
> On 19 Dec 2011, at 20:34, "Jillian C. York" <jilliancyork at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Oh also?  This is--on the surface--just as alarming and I don't remember
> half the fuss: http://venturebeat.com/2011/08/01/twitter-dst-confirm/
>
> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 11:32 AM, Jillian C. York <jilliancyork at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Ha, you think that's bad, you should see how many calls I've gotten
>> asking what effect Kim Jong-Il's death with have on the North Korean
>> Internet!
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 11:30 AM, Brian Conley <brianc at smallworldnews.tv>wrote:
>>
>>> I agree with Jillian. Slow news day on the markets?
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 11:21 AM, Jillian C. York <
>>> jilliancyork at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Honestly?  I trust that this will have less than zero effect on
>>>> Twitter's policy.  Twitter has stood up to a whole lot of other powerful
>>>> players, including the US and UK governments.  Saudi's powerful, but we're
>>>> talking about a share of under 5%. Try as they might, Kingdom Holding will
>>>> likely have minimal effect.
>>>>
>>>> Is it icky?  For sure, but so are a lot of deals.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 3:26 AM, Daniel Isaiah Ong <
>>>> danielo at cs.stanford.edu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thoughts?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/saudi-prince-invests-300-million-in-twitter/?hp
>>>>>
>>>>> Saudi Prince Invests $300 Million in TwitterBY MARK SCOTT<http://dealbook.nytimes.com/author/mark-scott/>
>>>>>
>>>>> LONDON — The Saudi Prince Walid bin Talal and his investment company,
>>>>> Kingdom Holding, said Monday they had bought a “strategic stake” in the
>>>>> social media site Twitter for $300 million.
>>>>>
>>>>> The investment represents roughly 3 percent stake of the company,
>>>>> based in San Francisco, which was valued at $8 billion in August.
>>>>>
>>>>> In a statement, Prince Walid, who owns 95 percent of Kingdom Holding,
>>>>> said the purchase was part of a strategy “to invest in promising,
>>>>> high-growth businesses with a global impact.”
>>>>>   Article Tools
>>>>>
>>>>>    -  E-mail<http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/saudi-prince-invests-300-million-in-twitter/?hp>
>>>>>    - Print<http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/saudi-prince-invests-300-million-in-twitter/?pagemode=print>
>>>>>    - Recommend
>>>>>    - Share
>>>>>       - TUMBLR
>>>>>       - DIGG
>>>>>       - LINKEDIN
>>>>>       - REDDIT
>>>>>       - PERMALINK
>>>>>       -
>>>>>    - Twitter
>>>>>
>>>>> Despite ongoing volatility in the financial markets, investors have
>>>>> shown continued interest in Internet companies. Last week, the social
>>>>> network gaming company Zynga raised $1 billion in an initial public
>>>>> offering, while Groupon, the daily deals site, raised $700 million from the
>>>>> markets in early November.
>>>>>
>>>>> Kingdom Holding stock was up about 6 percent in midday trading in
>>>>> Riyadh.
>>>>>
>>>>> Prince Walid, who also own stakes in U.S. blue chip companies such as
>>>>> Citigroup, General Motors and Apple, is the nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King
>>>>> Abdullah. He also is one the of the Arab world’s richest men, with assets
>>>>> worth an estimated $21 billion, according to Arabian Business magazine.
>>>>>
>>>>> The investment in Twitter comes after the company’s co-founder Biz
>>>>> Stone announced in June that he would be stepping back from the
>>>>> fast-growing social media. Twitter’s other co-founder, Evan Williams, was
>>>>> replaced by the current chief executive Dick Costolo last year.
>>>>>
>>>>> Despite the management shake-up, Twitter has continued to gain
>>>>> traction, particularly in the Arab world, where it was credited with
>>>>> playing a role in the recent popular uprisings across North Africa and the
>>>>> Gulf.
>>>>>
>>>>> Arabic is now the fastest growing language used on Twitter, according
>>>>> to the data intelligence company Semiocast.
>>>>>
>>>>> The volume of Arabic messages, for example, has multiplied by 2,146
>>>>> percent in the 12 months ending in October, according to figures from
>>>>> Semiocast. That makes Arabic the eighth most used language on the site.
>>>>>
>>>>> “We believe that social media will fundamentally change the media
>>>>> industry landscape in the coming years. Twitter will capture and monetize
>>>>> this positive trend,” Ahmed Reda Halawani, Kingdom Holding’s executive
>>>>> director of private equity and international investments, said in a
>>>>> statement.
>>>>>
>>>>> The website currently has over 100 million active users, and raised
>>>>> approximately $400 million of new capital last summer. That investment was
>>>>> led by DST Global, the investment firm headed by the Russian billionaire
>>>>> Yuri Milner.
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> liberationtech mailing list
>>>>> liberationtech at lists.stanford.edu
>>>>>
>>>>> Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to:
>>>>>
>>>>> https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
>>>>>
>>>>> If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you
>>>>> click above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a
>>>>> daily digest?"
>>>>>
>>>>> You will need the user name and password you receive from the list
>>>>> moderator in monthly reminders.
>>>>>
>>>>> Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list
>>>>> moderator.
>>>>>
>>>>> Please don't forget to follow us on
>>>>> http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> jilliancyork.com | @jilliancyork | tel: +1-857-891-4244 | google
>>>> voice: +1-415-562-JILL
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> liberationtech mailing list
>>>> liberationtech at lists.stanford.edu
>>>>
>>>> Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to:
>>>>
>>>> https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
>>>>
>>>> If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you
>>>> click above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a
>>>> daily digest?"
>>>>
>>>> You will need the user name and password you receive from the list
>>>> moderator in monthly reminders.
>>>>
>>>> Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator.
>>>>
>>>> Please don't forget to follow us on
>>>> http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>> Brian Conley
>>> Director, Small World News
>>> http://smallworldnews.tv
>>> m: 646.285.2046
>>> Skype: brianjoelconley
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> jilliancyork.com | @jilliancyork | tel: +1-857-891-4244 | google voice:
>> +1-415-562-JILL
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> jilliancyork.com | @jilliancyork | tel: +1-857-891-4244 | google voice:
> +1-415-562-JILL
>
>
>
>  _______________________________________________
> liberationtech mailing listliberationtech at lists.stanford.edu
>
> Should you need to change your subscription options, please go to:
> https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech
>
> If you would like to receive a daily digest, click "yes" (once you click above) next to "would you like to receive list mail batched in a daily digest?"
>
> You will need the user name and password you receive from the list moderator in monthly reminders.
>
> Should you need immediate assistance, please contact the list moderator.
>
> Please don't forget to follow us on http://twitter.com/#!/Liberationtech
>
>

-- 
jilliancyork.com | @jilliancyork | tel: +1-857-891-4244 | google voice:
+1-415-562-JILL
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.stanford.edu/pipermail/liberationtech/attachments/20111219/b8564788/attachment.html>