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This article was published on October 20, 2011

Saudi prince reportedly considers buying up to $300m stake in Twitter from co-founders


Saudi prince reportedly considers buying up to $300m stake in Twitter from co-founders

Twitter may only recently have completed its latest funding round, but it could soon have new, big-name investor if a report from Sky News today plays out.

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding firm is said to have held talks with at least one of Twitter’s co-founders with a view to acquiring part of their shareholding in the microblogging site, in a deal worth between $200m and $300m.

Following Twitter’s recent funding round, such an investment would equal around 3% of the company, which is said to have an $8bn valuation. Kingdom Holding already holds a 7% stake in Rupert Murdoch-founded News Corp, as well as having money in Apple and Time Warner. Sky says it is unclear whether the wealthy Saudi has already purchased shares in Twitter from one of its co-founders or if discussions have simply been taking place to explore the idea.

Twitter’s most recent round closed in early September this year, valued at $800m.

We’ve contacted Twitter to obtain their side of the story and will update if we receive a comment.

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UPDATE: Twitter has simply told us it does not comment on rumors.

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