Elon Musk officially rebranded Twitter into X in 2023, and now over a year later, a federal court order has led to the unveiling of the shareholders who assisted in the massive $44 billion purchase − including names like music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs and the social media platform's founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston granted the order proposed by Jacob Silverman, an independent technology journalist, in July 2024, court records show. Silverman proposed the order for the sake of "transparency" and the general interests of the public.
"I believe that people have a right to know who owns a company with such a prominent role in shaping public discourse, both in the United States and around the world," Silverman wrote in a blog post on his website. "X’s self-proclaimed role as a guarantor of free speech means that we should know which outside entities − and which foreign governments − may be able to exert influence on the company."
Silverman is being represented pro bono by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP).
"Reporters Committee attorneys are very pleased with the district court’s ruling, which vindicates not only the interest of our client, Mr. Silverman, but also the interest of the general public in knowing who owns X," Katie Townsend, deputy executive director and legal director at the RCFP, told USA TODAY in a statement. "Corporate ownership information of this kind is routinely disclosed in civil litigation and, as the district court correctly concluded, there is no reason why it should have been sealed here."
USA TODAY contacted X's attorneys on Thursday but did not receive an immediate response.
In addition to Combs and Dorsey, the other nearly 100 X Holdings Corp. shareholders listed include: venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al Saud; UnipolSai S.P.A., an Italian financial services company based in Bologna; and 8VC, a venture capital firm co-founded by Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of software company Palantir, according to an unsealed court document obtained by the Washington Post.
Many initial investors, including Dorsey and Andreessen Horowitz, have been publicly revealed before but this is the first time a list has compiled everyone who invested in X, the Post reported.
The Pershing Square Foundation, another entity revealed on the list reported by the Post, lists hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman and his wife Neri Oxman as co-trustees.
Fidelity, which has several entities named on the shareholder list, said in January that one of its mutual funds that valued its stake in X at nearly $20 million in 2022 had dropped to $5.6 million.
During the first six months of 2023, which is the first full year in which Musk owned the company, X's revenue ($1.48 billion) fell nearly 40% from the same period the year prior, according to Bloomberg, citing court documents. The company in total lost $456 million in the first quarter of 2023, the outlet reported via court documents.
The company generated a little over $600 million in advertising revenue in each of the first three quarters of 2023, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter.
It is unclear who still has shares in X as of August 2024. X Holdings Corp., formerly known as Twitter, went private after Musk acquired it.
Silverman "intervened" in a 2023 lawsuit filed by former Twitter employees who sued Musk and X after alleging the Tesla and SpaceX founder violated their arbitration agreements by not paying them certain fees after he bought the company, according to federal court documents filed in the Northern District of California.
Musk filed a sealed version of the list of initial X shareholders amid the lawsuit, which was remanded to state court in June 2023, court records show.
Silverman's attorneys, including Townsend, argued he could intervene "for the limited purpose of asserting his common law and First Amendment rights of access to judicial records."
Here's the full list of people and entities named as shareholders of X Holdings Corp. in the court document filed June 9, 2023:
2024-12-27 00:232303 view
2024-12-26 22:542091 view
2024-12-26 22:48585 view
2024-12-26 22:431081 view
2024-12-26 22:412552 view
2024-12-26 21:57127 view
Sabrina Carpenteris sharing her short n’ sweet self-care routine.The “Espresso” singer, who just fin
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A severe lack of affordable housing has prompted Oregon lawmakers to consider
Sheila Wagoner is not a fan of the wind farm overlooking Keyser, West Virginia. "I really don't c
