Saudi Prince Now Owns 5% of Twitter

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has given Twitter a big vote of confidence just months after suggesting CEO Jack Dorsey should step aside. Alwaleed has increased its stake in Twitter over the last six weeks to 5.17%, making him the second biggest shareholder after former CEO and co-founder Evan Williams. 

The announcement comes just days after Twitter (TWTR, Tech30) named Dorsey as its permanent CEO.

Alwaleed, one of the richest men in Saudi Arabia, bought a 3% stake in the company in 2011 before it went public in 2013. The current stake of 35 million shares is worth $1 billion, and includes 30 million shares owned directly by the prince and five million by his Kingdom Holding Company.