Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) announced Monday a combined investment of $300 million in the social networking site Twitter. A statement released by Kingdom Holding Company said that the investment was finalized after “several months of negotiations” and represented a “strategic stake” in the social networking site. “Our investment in Twitter reaffirms our ability in identifying suitable opportunities to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact,” said Prince Alwaleed. Twitter is a communication platform that instantly connects people everywhere to what is most meaningful to them. At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of information called Tweets, which are 140 characters or less in length. With 250 million Tweets per day and more than 100 million active users, there is something for everyone on Twitter, no matter what they are interested in or where they are in the world. Twitter can be accessed on the web, on smartphones and on the simplest of feature phones. “We believe that social media will fundamentally change the media industry landscape in the coming years.Twitter will capture and monetize this positive trend,” said Ahmed Halawani, KHC Executive Director of Private Equity and International Investments, Prince Alwaleed has a strong presence and influence in media through his investments in media and entertainment in the Arab world and beyond. He is the main shareholder in KHC, which has a major stake in Citigroup Inc. KHC also holds stakes in other Western giants, including Apple Inc. and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. In February 2010, Prince Alwaleed's Rotana Group media company agreed to sell a stake of just over nine percent to News Corp. for $70 million. __
