In 2022 Elon Musk bought Twitter, took it private, renamed it X and since then has lost advertisers and revenue as he increasingly promotes far right views and amplifies users that spread conspiracy theories and disinformation.
The world’s richest man, tech innovator and founder of Tesla and SpaceX has become a divisive figure who recently endorsed Trump and launched America PAC to support Republican voter turnout.
This week a newly unsealed filing has revealed the names of investors in X as of June 2023. Some of the information was previously reported, including that Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al Saud and his company Kingdom Holding invested in X.
A review of public filings for Kingdom Holding provides new details that have not been previously reported regarding the value of investment in two of Musk’s businesses.
The list of X owners was recently unsealed
A list of owners of Elon Musk’s X.com (aka Twitter) from June 9, 2023 was recently revealed after the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed a motion to unseal the filing on behalf of their client independent journalist Jacob Silverman.
The list of approximately 100 entities does not indicate the amount owned but provides new insight into ownership as of last June including that one notable investor is Sean “Diddy” Combs, who has been accused of sex trafficking.
The filing lists nearly 100 entities with a stake in X, although many appear to represent different funds controlled by the same firm or person. Other investors include venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al Saud; Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey; and 8VC, a venture capital firm co-founded by Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of intelligence contractor and data analysis platform Palantir.
When Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022 the Saudi investment was valued at almost $2 billion
In 2022 Elon Musk bought Twitter, which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and took it private by delisting it from the NYSE.
At the time the largest investor after Musk was Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the billionaire investor and majority owner of Kingdom Holding Company.
In October 2022 Prince Alwaleed announced that he was rolling over his shares valued at approximately $1.9 billion into an approximately 4% stake in Elon Musk’s Twitter.
Since Musk took Twitter private the information on all of the investors and the value of their investments has no longer been publicly available.
Kingdom Holding filings appear to show a massive decrease in their stake in X from $1.9 billion to $262 million
In June 2023 Fortune reported that based on public filings Fidelity’s Contrafund decreased the value of Twitter by 67% over a seven month period.
Elon Musk convinced pals Marc Andreessen, Changpeng Zhao and Prince Al Waleed to invest in Twitter. They’re down 67%, according to a new Fidelity filing
The Kingdom Holding Company financial statements for the period ending December 31, 2023 does not mention Twitter or X.com.
But section 10.2, shown below, says the Group holds position in equity securities of a social media services company “Tech Company” amounting to Saudi Riyals 985 million. This amount converts to approximately USD $262 million as of December 2023.
The Kingdom Holding Company financial statements for the prior year period ending December 31, 2022 similarly described a social media “Tech Company” that was to be acquired by an individual shareholder and delisted from the NYSE and Kingdom Holding planned to roll over its stake – the exact description of the Twitter transaction.
Based on this information it appears that the almost $1.9 billion stake that Kingdom Holding had in Twitter in 2022 may have been reduced to a valuation of $262 million by December 2023, a decrease of over $1.6 billion. It also appears that did not deter Prince Alwaleed from making a second large investment in another Elon Musk company xAI.
A new Kingdom Holding filing shows Prince Alwaleed invested $400 million in Elon Musk’s xAI
In May 2024 Elon Musk’s xAI announced a round of funding for $6 billion with Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding among the key investors.
Our Series B funding round of $6 billion with participation from key investors including Valor Equity Partners, Vy Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Kingdom Holding, amongst others.
While Prince Alwaleed’s involvement in the xAI funding round was previously reported, the amount of the investment was not reported.
The quarterly financial statement for Kingdom Holding Company for the period ending June 30, 2024 reveals that they invested Saudi Riyals 1.5 billion valued at USD $400 million.
Saudi Prince Alwaleed and Kingdom Holding are big investors in Elon Musk
While the $1.9 billion that Prince Alwaleed rolled into Twitter when Musk took it private appears to have decreased massively to $262 million, his recent $400 million investment in xAI means that he has at least $650 million invested with Musk.
I reported previously on how the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIF) entrusted over $2 billion to be managed by Jared Kushner’s advisory firm Affinity Partners and PIF invested in LIV golf tournaments at various Trump properties.
The Public Investment Fund is also a 16.8% owner of Kingdom Holding and therefore also an investor in Elon Musk’s X and xAI.
As we head into the 2024 elections and beyond it will be essential to continue providing transparency on Saudi investments in Trump, Kushner and Musk.