Social media giant Snapchat is apparently in talks with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal regarding a possible partnership or investment. Several sources confirm Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel and Chief Strategy Officer Imran Kahn traveled to Saudi Arabia this last weekend.
Of note, Snapchat is currently organizing a funding round that is likely to value the firm at around $19 billion.
More on Snapchat meeting with Saudi Prince Alwaleed
According to a statement from Alwaleed’s Kingdom Holding Company, the meeting included KHC’s Dr. Adel Alsayed, Executive Director for International and Private Equity, Mohammed Fahmy, KHC’s CFO and Naief Alzuhair, Website and Social Media Manager.
From Prince Alwaleed’s private office, the attendees were Ms. Nada Alsugair, Executive Director, Finance and Administration and Fahad Bin Saad Bin Nafel, Executive Assistant to the Chairman.
Spiegel expressed his gratitude to the Prince for giving him the opportunity to meet, and during their meeting the two men discussed a variety of political, business and economic issues. They also discussed Prince Alwaleed’s investments in the United States given he is currently the largest individual foreign investor in the U.S. The two men also had in depth discussions about the possibility of business cooperation between KHC and Snapchat in the future. In addition, Prince Alwaleed hosted a luncheon to honor all of his guests at Kingdom Resort.
More on Snapchat
Social media giant Snapchat started as a project with Reggie Brown for one of CEO Spiegel’s classes at Stanford University back in the summer of 2011, where Spiegel was studying product design. Over the last few years, Snapchat has evolved of the most popular social media messaging services. The app lets users to send photos and/or videos to their friends ore family, but after they receive the file, it can only be viewed for a few seconds before the file disappears. Of note, Facebook tried to acquire Snapchat for $3 billion in late 2013.
