Twitter deal values company at 8bn dollars
A new $800m investment in the social networking site that allows people to speak to the world in 140-word messages, has pushed Twitter’s value to more than $8bn.
Half of the investment was made by DST, a Russian internet investment company, which has taken a 5 per cent stake in the internet giant.
Twitter’s corporate blog announced on 1 August: “Now we have an opportunity to expand Twitter‘s reach with a significant round of funding led by the venture firm DST Global, with the participation of several of our existing investors.”
A spokesman for DST has confirmed the deal but declined to comment on the size of the investment.
The remainder of the $800m stake was taken by a range of investors, including a US mutual fund and an internet fund managed by JP Morgan.
DST’s association with Twitter has prompted further questions over the money-making potential of such internet ventures. Twitter’s revenues for 2011 are expected to be no more than $150m.
By contrast, Facebook, the world’s biggest social networking service, had estimated advertising revenues of $1.86bn last year.
Internet investor
DST – Digital Sky Technologies – is a Russian internet investment concern which has achieved a high profile by its association with consumer internet ventures. Alisher Usmanov, best known in the UK for his stake in Arsenal Football Club, holds a 32 per cent stake in DST.
The company’s founder, Yuri Milner, was the only Russian to make the 2010 Forbes list of the world’s most prominent business people.
In May 2009 DST acquired a $200m stake in Facebook in the face of speculation about how best to monetise what had become the pre-eminent social networking site.
Earlier in 2011 DST confirmed it was taking a minority stake in Spotify, the popular music streaming app. It also has stakes in Groupon, the discount website, and Zynga, which develops games for social networking websites.