Sat 29 October 2022:
Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) of Saudi Arabia and Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s private office will continue to own shares of Twitter worth at $1.89 billion after Elon Musk acquired the social media company, making them jointly the second-largest investors, the Saudi prince announced in a statement.
The acquisition was in keeping with KHC’s long-term strategy, according to Bin Talal, who tweeted the announcement on Friday and referred to Musk as “Chief Twit.”
The Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund owns 16.9% of the business, which was founded by bin Talal.
With more than 12 million Twitter followers as of January 2022 and a population of 34.8 million, Saudi Arabia ranked seventh among all nations in the world.
The world’s richest man, Musk, declared on Thursday that a $44 billion deal had been finalized.
“The bird is freed,” Musk tweeted, referencing Twitter’s bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have fewer limits on content that can be posted.
According to those familiar with the situation, Musk dismissed Twitter’s CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and head of law and policy Vijaya Gadde. He had claimed that they had misled him and Twitter’s investors over the prevalence of fraudulent accounts on the site.
The sources added that Agrawal and Segal were removed out of Twitter’s San Francisco offices where they were present when the agreement was finalized.
According to a person familiar with the situation, Musk, who also owns the rocket company SpaceX, intends to take over as interim CEO of Twitter.
The acquisition marks the end of a long-running saga; Musk first offered to buy Twitter in April, before attempting to back out of the deal, and then eventually completing the purchase to take the social media company private.
Musk responded by inquiring as to Saudi Arabia’s position on free speech for journalists at the time.
Musk’s purchase of Twitter was secured with funding from a number of investors, including Larry Ellison, the co-founder of software company Oracle, and Qatar Holding, which is controlled by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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