Dubai: Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal and his Kingdom Holding Company have bought a strategic stake in microblogging site Twitter for $300 million (Dh1.1 billion), they said in a statement on Monday.

The Kingdom said that the investment was "the result of several months of negotiations".

"Our investment in Twitter reaffirms our ability in identifying suitable opportunities to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact," Al Waleed said in the statement.

Al Waleed, a nephew of the Saudi king and who has several high profile investments in western companies including Citigroup and News Corp, recently announced plans to launch a news channel.