Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="elakiriaiya" data-source="post: 12009865" data-attributes="member: 380214"><a href="http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&lpver=3&ref=10" target="_blank"><img src="http://content.sweetim.com/sim/cpie/emoticons/0002024E.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>Saudi Prince Invests $300 Million in Twitter<a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/saudi-prince-invests-300-million-in-twitter/" target="_blank">http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/saudi-prince-invests-300-million-in-twitter/</a>His own business investment is much better than obtaining pledge and free money from all over the world! Prince <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/walid_bin_talal/index.html?inline=nyt-per" target="_blank">Walid bin Talal</a> of Saudi Arabia has taken a $300 million stake in the social media start-up <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/twitter/index.html?inline=nyt-org" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, adding an emerging brand name to an international investment portfolio that largely includes established giants like <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=AAPL&inline=nyt-org" target="_blank">Apple</a>, <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=C&inline=nyt-org" target="_blank">Citigroup</a> and <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=DIS&inline=nyt-org" target="_blank">Walt Disney</a>.Although  the billionaire investor has long been known for taking stakes in  stalwarts, the Twitter deal focuses on the next generation of blue-chip  companies.The five-year-old microblogging site, which now has  more than 100 million active users, has quickly evolved into a  ubiquitous communications tool, allowing individuals and companies to  broadcast and share information in real-time. During the Arab Spring,  revolutionaries embraced Twitter as a means to galvanize support and  organize protests.In his statement on Monday, the prince said the  purchase was part of an effort to “invest in promising, high-growth  businesses with a global impact.”Although Prince Walid does not  seem to be a member of the social network, his wife, Princess Ameerah  Al-Taweel is an avid user with more than 84,000 followers. On Monday,  she sent out a Twitter message, calling her husband’s social networking  investment “a great planned move.”Along with Facebook and <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=ZNGA&inline=nyt-org" target="_blank">Zynga</a>,  Twitter is part of an elite group of Internet companies that has  rapidly attracted users and raised money at multibillion-dollar  valuations. Prince Walid purchased shares from early investors in  Twitter, a deal that values the company at $8.4 billion, according to  two people with knowledge of the matter.The investment by Prince  Walid and his investment company Kingdom Holding is a strong vote of  confidence for Twitter at a time when other Internet darlings are  stumbling. At $8.4 billion, Twitter is now worth more than <a href="http://dealbook.on.nytimes.com/public/overview?symbol=ZNGA&inline=nyt-org" target="_blank">Zynga</a>,  the profitable gaming company that went public last week. Shares of  Zynga have fallen roughly 10 percent from their offering price, putting  its market value at $6.3 billion.Twitter, meanwhile, is still  shaping its business model. The service, which began selling ads in  2010, makes the bulk of its money from sponsored messages and accounts,  in which companies pay to promote their brands through users’ feeds and  landing pages.Sales remain modest compared to rival Facebook, but  they are steadily climbing. Twitter is expected to record $139.5  million in ad revenue sale this year, according to the research firm  eMarketer, and nearly double that in 2012.“We believe that social  media will fundamentally change the media industry landscape in the  coming years,” said Ahmed Reda Halawani, Kingdom Holding’s executive  director of <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/private_equity/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" target="_blank">private equity</a>. “Twitter will capture and monetize this positive trend.”Twitter  is also gaining traction in the Arab world, where it was credited with  playing a role in this year’s social uprisings across North Africa and  the Persian Gulf. Arabic-language messaging is the fastest-growing  segment on Twitter, according to the data intelligence company  Semiocast. The volume of Arabic messages increased 2,146 percent in the  12 months ending Oct. 31.But the network’s rising profile has  also attracted the ire of some governments, which see the service as a  destabilizing agent. In January, Twitter was briefly blocked in Egypt,  after a wave of protests. It is banned in China, a country that has  stifled several Internet sites.While Prince Walid is known as an  outspoken investor, few expect the Saudi royal to use his minority stake  to influence the company’s politics. His wife seemed to back that  sentiment on Monday, rebroadcasting messages from other Twitter users  that described the deal as a financial — and not political —  transaction.“This seems to be more about good business,” said  Michael Gartenberg, a Gartner analyst. “Clearly, he believes that  Twitter is not a passing fad but a cornerstone of the consumer social  network experience.”Unlike many of its peers, Twitter does not  seem to be rushing to go public. After raising hundreds of millions of  dollars, the company has some time before it needs to tap the markets.In the summer, the company raised $800 million from other private investors, led by DST Global, the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/v/venture_capital/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" target="_blank">venture capital</a>  firm headed by the Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. As part of the  transaction, Twitter issued $400 million in new shares, while early  shareholders sold the rest.“They haven’t figured out a scalable  revenue model yet, that is particularly aggressive,” said Ben Schachter,  a Macquarie Securities analyst. “Staying private gives them the  opportunity to figure out how to make things work, without the pressure  of the public markets.”</blockquote>

Verification: Dawasata paya keeyak thibeda?

Top Bottom