Qatar announces US$375 million contribution to Elon Musk’s Twitter buyout

A subsidiary of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is contributing $375 million to Elon Musk’s buyout of Twitter, according to official US documents published on Thursday.

Qatar Holding LLC, the main investment subsidiary of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), is one of almost 20 companies that have pledged a total of $7.1 billion for the buyout, according to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of the board at the Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), said KHC would be rolling over its approximately $1.9 billion investment in Twitter – despite his criticism of Musk’s takeover a few weeks ago.

Interesting. Just two questions, if I may.

How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly & indirectly?

What are the Kingdom’s views on journalistic freedom of speech?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022

Musk – the world’s richest man – struck a deal at the end of last month to buy Twitter for $44 billion. He has sold $8.5 billion of shares in his automotive company Tesla to raise cash for the deal.

Rights groups decried the takeover, expressing fears that the platform would relax enforcement policies against harmful content.

As Qatar tries to diversify its investments, the QIA – one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds – is shifting away from investments in trophy assets like property and investing more in technology companies, Bloomberg reported in March.