It was just a few months ago that the Saudi religious police claimed that anyone using Twitter had lost this world and their afterlife, with the wonderfully titled grand mufti calling Twitter users “fools”. This is why it has come as a surprise to many involved in the Twitter initial public offering that Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal happens to be a key investor in the company. As such, he will have a sizeable share in the coming floating.
According
to the prince, he has invested $300 million in the microblogging platform and
is not going to sell his stake at all. Alwaleed bin Talal believes that with user
base of 300 million people and half a billion tweets per day, the growth
potential of Twitter is tremendous.
It seems that the official hatred for Twitter in Saudi Arabia means nothing to the Prince, who is against anybody trying to control or censor this service or any other social media, even if it is local authorities. Alwaleed claimed that Twitter accelerated the process of disseminating news and should therefore remain an open forum for everyone.
The prince admits that fighting Twitter is a losing war, though it might be a bit strange given that the imam of the Grand Mosque’s public TV appearance warned the citizens that “Twitter was a threat to national unity”.
Alwaleed bin Talal is a nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and owns international investment company Kingdom Holding. The prince is a closely watched figure in international markets due to his successful investments through Kingdom Holding in such companies as Citigroup and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
It seems that the official hatred for Twitter in Saudi Arabia means nothing to the Prince, who is against anybody trying to control or censor this service or any other social media, even if it is local authorities. Alwaleed claimed that Twitter accelerated the process of disseminating news and should therefore remain an open forum for everyone.
The prince admits that fighting Twitter is a losing war, though it might be a bit strange given that the imam of the Grand Mosque’s public TV appearance warned the citizens that “Twitter was a threat to national unity”.
Alwaleed bin Talal is a nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and owns international investment company Kingdom Holding. The prince is a closely watched figure in international markets due to his successful investments through Kingdom Holding in such companies as Citigroup and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
