Elon Musk Unveils Full List of X’s True Owners Following Court Ruling

Key Takeaways

• X attracted investments from prominent figures like Sean “Diddy” Combs, Larry Ellison, and major financial institutions.
• However, lenders are facing losses due to the $13 billion loan to Musk.
• The company’s value has dropped significantly since the acquisition.
• Despite challenges, Elon Musk maintains a loyal fanbase.

In a new court document , the curtain has finally been lifted on the secretive group of investors behind Elon Musk’s X – formerly known as Twitter.

The illustrious roster reads like a Who’s Who of Silicon Valley and global finance, featuring A-list celebrities and venerable venture capital firms.

X Biggest Investors

The extensive list of shareholders reveals various high-profile figures, including celebrities like Sean “Diddy” Combs, billionaires like Larry Ellison, and prominent players in Silicon Valley and global finance.

While some investors, such as Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia, were already well-known, the document provides the first comprehensive glimpse into X Holdings Corp’s ownership structure.

Other notable backers include Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, and Fidelity.

The list of X’s owners reads like a Who’s Who of finance and technology, featuring a diverse range of stakeholders.

Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022 was marked by controversy from the start.

Since taking the reins, Musk has implemented drastic workforce reductions and strained relationships with advertisers, the company’s primary revenue source.

Despite these challenges, he remains committed to transforming the platform into a comprehensive “everything app,” offering a range of services from video content to payments.

The unsealed court filing, part of a lawsuit by former Twitter employees, provides a partial list of shareholders, although the exact stakes of each investor remain undisclosed.

Previous reports indicate that as of October, Musk owned a dominant 75% of X’s parent company, with no other investor holding more than 10%.

Bankers Lost Billions In X Deal

The filing emerges amid increasing criticism over the financial debacle surrounding Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, now rebranded as X. A recent Wall Street Journal article  has gone so far as to label the deal the worst since the 2008 global financial crisis.

In 2022, seven major banks – including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Barclays – lent Musk $13 billion to finance the purchase. Musk and his co-investors contributed $30 billion in cash.

According to the WSJ, these banks now have a huge debt on their balance sheets and cannot offload it without suffering “major losses.” This situation is not just one of the worst deals since 2008 but one of the worst deals ever.

For example, Barclays reportedly  informed its top investment bankers in late 2023 that they would face at least a 40% pay cut, leading to the departure of about 50 of the firm’s 200 directors.

Efforts to restructure the debt have been unsuccessful, putting the banks in a difficult position as they also seek to stay in Musk’s good graces for potential future deals, including a possible IPO of SpaceX, Musk’s highly successful space venture.

X’s current valuation has plummeted to around $19 billion, less than half of what Musk paid.

Despite this, Musk maintains a cult-like following among some, who continue to praise his supposed genius on X—likely the real reason he bought the platform.

Why Musk Unveiled The List

On Tuesday, Aug. 21, a federal judge in California ordered that a detailed X Holdings corporate disclosure statement be made public by Sep. 4.

When Elon Musk acquired X in 2022, he took the company private and laid off about three-quarters of its workforce. Since the $44 billion purchase, Musk has kept the company’s corporate and ownership structure secret.

The ruling stems from a lawsuit by former Twitter employees seeking payment for fees from disputes with the company. The lawsuit argues that X, as a social media platform, has a duty to be transparent about its operations.

Musk’s legal team argued that X’s ownership details were private and confidential, but the judge dismissed these claims, stating that the disclosure statement didn’t contain sensitive trade information or scandalous details and found no factual basis for sealing the disclosure.

About the Author

Giuseppe Ciccomascolo

Giuseppe Ciccomascolo began his career as an investigative journalist in Italy, where he contributed to both local and national newspapers, focusing on various financial sectors. Upon relocating to London, he worked as an analyst for Fitch's CapitalStructure and later as a Senior Reporter for Alliance News. In 2017, Giuseppe transitioned to covering cryptocurrency-related news, producing documentaries and articles on Bitcoin and other emerging digital currencies. He also played a pivotal role in establishing the academy for a cryptocurrency exchange website. Crypto remained his primary area of interest throughout his tenure as a writer for ThirdFloor.

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