[liberationtech] Saudi Prince invests $300mn in Twitter
Fran Parker
lilbambi at gmail.com
Mon Dec 19 13:17:01 PST 2011
Yeah, Facebook only has huge investments from Russian investor Yuri
Milner and Goldman Sach...
I have begun to worry about Twitter though...
On 12/19/11 2:43 PM, Jillian C. York wrote:
> 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.â€
>>>>>> 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.
>>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> jilliancyork.com | @jilliancyork | tel: +1-857-891-4244 | google
>>>>> voice: +1-415-562-JILL
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> 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
>>
>>
>>
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