The Saudi Royal Family have confirmed they contributed funding to what is one of the largest, and perhaps the most socially significant, hostile takeovers in history. Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter last week for $44 Billion, sought external funding for the purchase. Al Waleed Bin Talal stepped in to help fund the purchase of the social media behemoth, among other significant parties including Qatar Holding LLC and Sequoia Capital. The Saudi Prince’s company Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Company made the investment.
The details of the funding were released in Musk’s filing on Thursday, which show Alwaleed bin Talal agreed to contribute his 35 million Twitter shares, worth $1.9bn, so as to retain a stake in the company post takeover.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal opposed Musk’s purchase, and was intent on retaining his stake in Twitter, which he expressed on platform in April:
I don't believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects.
Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer.https://t.co/Jty05oJUTk pic.twitter.com/XpNHUAL6UX
— الوليد بن طلال (@Alwaleed_Talal) April 14, 2022
Musk has been heavily critical of Twitter’s curtailing of free speech, as well as its business model, and said he plans to unlock it’s latent potential.
