Elon Musk’s company, X, was recently ordered by a court to disclose its complete list of shareholders as of June 2023, making the information available to the public.
Well-known figures in the tech industry had already been identified as supporting Musk’s bid to acquire the social media platform formerly known as Twitter and privatize it. Backers included VC firms Andreessen Horowitz, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Sequoia Capital, as well as Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, and the crypto company Binance.
A previously undisclosed investor in X was the rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, investing through Sean Combs Capital. Activist investor Bill Ackman, known for his recent campaign against activism at Ivy League schools, holds shares through the Pershing Square Foundation. Additionally, 8VC, co-founded by Palantir’s Joe Lonsdale, also has ties to X and Russian oligarchs.
Among the listed shareholders were investors in Twitter prior to Musk’s acquisition. For instance, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al Saud transitioned their Twitter holdings into X.
The court filing with the shareholder list is dated June 9, 2023, but was unsealed recently in response to a motion from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, filed on behalf of independent journalist Jacob Silverman.
In a blog post revealing the complete list of investors, Silverman noted that many of Musk’s supporters were already known and that specific ownership percentages were not disclosed. Nevertheless, he believes the list serves as a valuable resource for journalists, researchers, regulators, activists, and others interested in understanding the inner workings of this significant company.
