Saudi prince snaps up $300m stake in Twitter

SAUDI billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, an investor in some of the world’s top companies, has bought a stake in Twitter for $300 million (€226m), gaining another foothold in the global media industry.

Alwaleed, a nephew of Saudi Arabia’s king estimated by Forbes to have a fortune of $19.6 billion, already owns a 7% stake in News Corp and has plans to start a satellite news channel.

Twitter was a key means of communication for protesters in the Arab Spring revolts this year, violence that threatened Saudi Arabia until the kingdom unveiled a $130 billion social spending package.