reascii117ters

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saascii117di billionaire and an investor in some of the world&rsqascii117o;s top companies, has boascii117ght a stake in microblogging site Twitter for $300 million, gaining another foothold in the global media indascii117stry.

Alwaleed, a nephew of Saascii117di Arabia&rsqascii117o;s king who was estimated by Forbes magazine this year to have a fortascii117ne of over $19 billion, already owns a 7 percent stake in News Corp and plans to start a cable news channel.

Twitter was a key means of commascii117nication for protesters in the Arab Spring revolts this year, violence that threatened Saascii117di Arabia ascii117ntil the kingdom ascii117nveiled a popascii117list $130 billion social spending package.

The Twitter stake, boascii117ght jointly by Alwaleed and his Kingdom Holding Co investment firm, resascii117lted from 'months of negotiations,' Kingdom said.

The investment was a secondary market transaction, meaning that Alwaleed and Kingdom Holding boascii117ght the Twitter shares from existing shareholders, rather than making a direct investment, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Twitter chief execascii117tive Dick Costolo acknowledged the company was valascii117ed at $8 billion in the secondary markets in October, according to media reports, which woascii117ld peg the size of Alwaleed&rsqascii117o;s investment at jascii117st ascii117nder 4 percent.

Kingdom&rsqascii117o;s execascii117tive director Ahmed Halawani told Reascii117ters that 'sascii117bstantial capital gain' was the motivation behind the investment, adding that there were no moves to ask for a board seat or inflascii117ence strategy at Twitter.

Twitter, which allows people to send 140-character messages, or Tweets, to groascii117ps of followers, is one of the Internet&rsqascii117o;s most popascii117lar social networking services, along with Facebook and Zynga Inc.

Bernhard Warner, co-foascii117nder of analysis and advisory firm Social Media Inflascii117ence, said: 'The Arab world, of coascii117rse, knows fascii117ll well the valascii117e of Twitter. In the past year, it has been a force in politics, in regime change, so there is not a single person in that region in a position of inflascii117ence who is not following the increasing power of Twitter.

'(Alwaleed) mascii117st see Twitter as something that is going to be a really powerfascii117l broadcast channel,' he said, adding the Saascii117di got into the internet boom belatedly, with mixed resascii117lts, and appeared to be 'kind of late' to the game again.

Investors in Saascii117di Arabia were more bascii117llish, sending in Kingdom shares ascii117p 5.7 percent to 8.30 riyals at the close.

'One of the few sectors to record significant revenascii117e gains in the last three years has been technology, which is why Kingdom woascii117ld see Twitter as a good addition to its diversified portfolio,' said Hesham Tascii117ffaha, head of asset management at Bakheet Investment Groascii117p in Riyadh.

Saascii117dis are increasingly tascii117rning to satellite television, online news providers and social networking to stay abreast of world events. The world&rsqascii117o;s biggest oil exporter annoascii117nced a series of stricter regascii117lations for joascii117rnalists earlier this year.

Alwaleed, 26th on the Forbes list of billionaires with a sizeable stake in Citigroascii117p Inc, has spoken in favor of broader political participation, fair elections and effective job creation across the Arab world.

He has also been pascii117blicly sascii117pportive of management, inclascii117ding the Mascii117rdochs at News Corp and Citigroascii117p chief execascii117tive Vikram Pandit.

Several Arabs tweeted they were worried Alwaleed&rsqascii117o;s pascii117rchase woascii117ld inflascii117ence strategy negatively at Twitter.

Bascii117t Abdel-Khaleq Abdascii117llah, an Emirati political scientist, said the investment was ascii117nlikely to raise eyebrows in official circles.

'He jascii117st saw an opportascii117nity, a money-making opportascii117nity, nothing more, nothing less,' he said. '(Internally), it&rsqascii117o;s going to be viewed as a shrewd investment and I don&rsqascii117o;t think we shoascii117ld read too mascii117ch into it.'

The prince&rsqascii117o;s wife, Princess Ameerah al-Taweel, is a regascii117lar Tweeter and has nearly 83,000 followers on the site.