Court order forces X to reveal shareholders, surprising names emerge
Elon Musk's X was recently compelled by a court order to disclose its complete shareholder list as of June 2023. Several industry figures were already reported as supporters of Musk's bid to acquire the social media firm, then known as Twitter, and take it private. These include venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Sequoia Capital, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and cryptocurrency company Binance. However, involvement of Sean "Diddy" Combs through Sean Combs Capital was not known until now.
Ackman and 8VC also hold stakes in X
Activist investor Bill Ackman is another stakeholder in X, through the Pershing Square Foundation. Additionally, 8VC, a venture capital firm co-founded by Palantir's Joe Lonsdale with reported ties to Russian oligarchs, also holds a stake. Some of these shareholders were already invested in Twitter before Musk's takeover. For instance, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al Saud reportedly converted their Twitter shares into stakes in what's now called X.
Other notable investors
The shareholder list of X also includes Italian financial services firm UnipolSai S.P.A., and Fidelity. The court filing containing this information was dated June 9, 2023, but only unsealed recently in response to a motion from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. This move comes amid rising concerns over bankers losing several billion dollars in the X deal, which has been dubbed as the worst since the 2008 global financial crisis by a recent Wall Street Journal report.
What prompted X to release its list of shareholders?
X's shareholder list disclosure was necessitated by a lawsuit filed by ex-Twitter employees, accusing X of breaching their arbitration agreements by withholding fees post-Musk's acquisition. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, represented by attorneys, requested the unsealing of these records in July on behalf of independent tech journalist Jacob Silverman. However, the unsealed court documents didn't provide a detailed breakdown of stakes. Previous disclosures revealed Musk owned 75%, while other investors held no more than 10% each.
