Saudi prince to retain his stake in Twitter after IPO

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia has revealed he doesn’t intend to sell his stake in the social media giant at its IPO, which he expects to take place in 2014.

In December 2011, the nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah invested $US300 million in the social media giant through his Kingdom Holding Company, representing around 3% of the company at the time.

The move was described as taking a “strategic stake” in the company by KHC executive director of private and international investments, Ahmed Halawani.

“We believe that social media will fundamentally change the media industry landscape in the coming years. Twitter will capture and monetise this positive trend,” Halawani said.

Earlier this month, the social messaging company announced in a tweet that it had finally filed for an IPO.

However, in an interview with Reuters, the Saudi prince has revealed his stake in the firm will not be up for sale as part of the IPO.

Clearly the speed they’re moving with shows that they would like to IPO sooner than later. I believe it will happen either this year or early next year,” Alwaleed says.

“Twitter is a very strategic investment for us. We believe that it is just beginning to touch the surface. We have invested $300 million in the company. We will be selling zero, nothing, at the IPO.”