Saudi prince now owns more of Twitter than Jack Dorsey does

Majdi MohammedMeet Twitter's second-largest shareholder. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

A Saudi prince has increased his holdings in Twitter, making him the company’s second largest shareholder.

Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, who in 2011 invested $300 million in the social network, now owns 34.9 million shares of Twitter’s common stock, according to a new regulatory filing (pdf).

At nearly 5.2%, his stake in the company is now larger than that of Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s co-founder and newly re-minted CEO, whose 21.86 million shares give him 3.2% of the company, according to FactSet. (The prince previously had a stake of roughly 3%.)

Twitter co-founder Ev Williams remains the company’s largest shareholder, with 46.56 million shares for a 6.9% stake.

The investment might seem like a major stamp of approval for Dorsey, who was named Twitter’s permanent CEO on Oct. 5 and is tasked with turning around the company. (The prince’s updated holdings are as of Oct. 6.) But during Twitter’s CEO search, the billionaire prince was vocal about his opinion that Twitter needed a new CEO—i.e. someone other than Dorsey, who at the time was in the role on an interim basis.

Alwaleed, who serves as majority owner and chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company, is also a significant investor in News Corp, Citigroup, and the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

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SOURCE: qz.com

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