Saudi Prince reverses course on Twitter for 'new friend' Elon Musk

It took less than three weeks for Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud to flip from outraged investor to crucial supporter of Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter.

“Great to connect with you my ‘new’ friend @elonmusk,” Alwaleed tweeted on Thursday, shortly after a Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed he agreed to roll his entire $1.9 billion stake into a privatised Twitter. When Musk announced his $54.20-per-share offer in April, Alwaleed used the social-media platform to reject the offer, saying it didn’t “come close” to Twitter’s intrinsic value.

It’s unclear how Musk swayed the Saudi billionaire — initially the Tesla co-founder mocked the Saudi royal — but sticking with the company is in keeping with Alwaleed’s tendency to hold tight on high-profile bets through ups and downs. The strategy has yielded mixed results. Alwaleed, 67, rose to prominence in Wall Street circles in the early 1990s when he emerged as a saviour of Citicorp, a predecessor of Citigroup, which was struggling after a spate of bad loans. His stake soared more than 190 per cent over the following decade.