Kingdom Holding and the private office of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal will maintain their shares in Twitter after Musk takes control of the social media company.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KHC), along with the private office of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, will continue to own $1.89 billion worth of Twitter shares after Elon Musk takes over of the social media company, making it the second-largest investor, according to a statement published by Prince of Saudi Arabia.
Bin Talal, who shared the statement on his Twitter account on Friday and referred to Musk as “Chief Twit,” said that the deal aligns with KHC’s long-term strategy.
The company was founded by bin Talal and is 16.9% owned by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
As of January 2022, Saudi Arabia, with a population of 34.8 million, has the eighth most Twitter users of any country in the world, with over 12 million users.
Musk, the world’s richest man, announced on Thursday that he’s finished $44 billion acquisition.
“The bird is free,” Musk tweeted, referring to Twitter’s bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have less limits on what content can be. posted.
However, the CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc, and a self-described libertarian, also said he wants to prevent the platform from becoming a reverberation chamber for publicity. hatred and division.
Musk fired Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy director Vijaya Gadde, according to people familiar with the matter. He accused them of misleading him and Twitter investors about the number of fake accounts on the platform.
The sources added that Agrawal and Segal were at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were taken out.
Musk, who also runs rocket company SpaceX, plans to become Twitter’s interim CEO, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The acquisition marks the end of a long story; Musk first offered to buy Twitter in April, before attempting to back out of the deal, and then finalizing the acquisition to take the social media company private.
Contrary to Friday’s claims, bin Talal initially turned down Musk’s offer in April, saying it didn’t come close to Twitter’s “intrinsic value.”
At the time, Musk responded by asking what Saudi Arabia’s stance on freedom of expression in the press was.
Musk’s Twitter purchase is secured by capital from several investors, including Larry Ellison, co-founder of software company Oracle, and Qatar Holding, which is controlled by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
