I don’t think anyone could be in doubt that this year has been one hell of a ride for Twitter – from 12 months ago when television shows such as The Daily Show still ridiculed Twitter as the place to see what celebrities’ ate for breakfast, through the live-tweeted assassination of Osama Bin Laden, the Arab Springs, the civil war in Libya – Twitter is now an established medium for the voice of the public.
With this huge volume of real-time information, however, comes huge infrastructure challenges. The early days of Twitter were defined by the “Fail Whale” as much as the conversations, but things have steadily improved over time as the company has invested heavily. And now they have the funds to continue to invest heavily in their infrastructure with Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, founder and CEO of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), investing $300 million for a reported 3% of Twitter, valuing the company at $10 billion.
KHC already has large stakes in a number of media companies such as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (they own 7%), as well as technology companies ranging from Apple to HP to Amazon. In response to the deal Prince Alwaleed said:
Our investment in Twitter reaffirms our ability in identifying suitable opportunities to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact
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