Elon Musk's move to buy all of Twitter's shares was potentially blocked by Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Alwaleed, who is one of Twitter's largest shareholders, is fond of investing in many technology companies.
Alwaleed is the son of Prince Talal bin Saud, the direct grandson of the late King Abdulaziz bin Saud who founded the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. So Alwaleed is the nephew of King Salman who is currently in power.
His father, Prince Talal, was a controversial figure and was once exiled. When his parents divorced when Alwaleed was seven years old, he moved to Lebanon with his mother.
In 1979, Alwaleed moved to the United States to study at Menlo College, California majoring in business administration. He continued his education to earn a Master's degree at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 1985.
After completing his education in the US, Alwaleed returned to the Middle East where he immediately bought several banks and began to build his fortune. In 1997, he owned 5% of Apple's shares and became one of the largest shareholders.
After expanding his investment at home and abroad, Alwaleed had become one of the richest people in the Middle East. According to a Forbes report in 2017, Alwaleed's wealth reached USD 39.8 billion and became the 45th richest person in the world.
Most of his wealth comes from the 95% shares of Kingdom Holding Company that he holds. Alwaleed also invested his wealth in several large companies such as Twitter, Lyft, Citigroup, and others.
Alwaleed also has a super luxurious lifestyle. Reportedly he owns a palace with 435 rooms and a cruise ship Kingdom 5KR which has appeared in the James Bond films.
But his status as the richest man immediately disappeared after a dispute with his cousin Prince Muhamad bin Salman. In 2017 Alwaleed was arrested and his assets worth USD 2 billion confiscated.
Alwaleed and several other billionaires were held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia until he was released in 2018. He was accused of money laundering, bribery and extorting government officials, as quoted by The Daily Mail, Friday (22/4/ 2022).
Now Alwaleed is the man who might thwart Elon Musk's attempt to buy Twitter n. In a tweet, Alwaleed said Musk's offer was not commensurate with the value of Twitter and its future growth prospects.
"I don't believe that Elon Musk's $54.20 proposal is anywhere near the intrinsic value of Twitter in terms of its growth prospects," he wrote.
"As one of Twitter's largest and long-term shareholders, the Kingdom and I declined the offer," he added. But of course he is not the one who can make decisions, but Twitter management. Let's just wait.