Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, was a publicly traded company until late 2022. And while the company was taken private by billionaire Tesla (TSLA 4.18%) CEO Elon Musk for $44 billion, the question of "who owns X?" has a more complicated answer, as Musk had several investors involved in the deal.
Social Media
Social media are internet platforms that facilitate the creation, sharing, and discovery of user-generated content.
In this article, we'll discuss the current ownership structure of X, other important governance information you need to know, and how you might be able to invest in X even though the company is no longer publicly traded.
Image source: Getty Images.
Who owns it?
Who is the owner of X?
Until October 2022, X (then known as Twitter) was a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TWTR. It was taken private by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk toward the end of that month, and its name was subsequently changed to X in March 2023
(Note: X.com was an online bank co-founded by Musk during the dot-com boom in the late 1990s. Musk reacquired the domain X.com from PayPal (PYPL 0.85%) in 2017.)
Technically speaking, Musk created a parent company (X Holdings) that is the owner of X Corp. He also has registered a company known as X.AI, which focuses on artificial intelligence (AI), and that could explain the need for the parent-subsidiary structure.
How Musk acquired Twitter
In early 2022, Musk -- a vocal critic of the lack of free speech being allowed on Twitter -- began accumulating shares of the social media company. By April 2022, Musk had become the largest shareholder.
Share
A share of stock represents ownership in a company, entitling holders to a portion of its assets, profits, and voting rights.
Just a few weeks later, Musk made an unsolicited $44 billion offer to buy the company, which Twitter's board initially rejected. After pressure from certain influential people, including several government officials, Twitter's board realized that accepting Musk's offer was in the best interest of Twitter shareholders and accepted it.
The road to getting the deal closed wasn't a smooth one. Musk tried to get out of the deal in July when he alleged that Twitter's management was in breach of their agreement by failing to crack down on spam and bot accounts, which made the platform's active user base look far greater than it actually was. He eventually offered to close the deal at a lower price than initially agreed, but management refused and sued Musk.
Before the trial was scheduled to begin, Musk decided to move forward with the deal as initially agreed. On Oct. 27, 2022, Musk officially acquired Twitter for $44 billion.
Musk sold about $15 billion of his Tesla stock to fund the purchase and secured financing from several banks. He also raised capital from a few outside investors and convinced some of Twitter's largest public shareholders to roll their shares into the new private company.
X ownership structure today
When it comes to ownership structure, it's important to realize that Musk isn't the only owner of X. For one thing, since going private, X has offered stock to employees and has granted restricted stock units (RSUs) as well.
Also, at the time of Musk's takeover of the company, he had several other investors who received equity stakes. After Musk, the largest shareholder of X is Kingdom Holding Company, controlled by Saudi prince and billionaire Alwaleed bin Talal, who rolled over $1.89 billion in former Twitter shares at the time of the deal.
Other notable investors include Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) co-founder Larry Ellison and cryptocurrency exchange Binance (which confirmed a $500 million investment). Venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital were initial investors alongside Musk, as was sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding. Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey retained a $1 billion stake in the social media platform after Musk took Twitter private. And Fidelity invested $300 million at the time of the acquisition.
Venture Capital
Venture capital (VC) is a form of financing through private equity. VC investors fund start-ups and small businesses, betting the target company will develop into a successful business.
The largest shareholders
Who are the largest shareholders?
First of all, because X Corp. is a private company, there isn't as much publicly available information regarding its ownership structure as you'd find for a publicly traded company. We don't know each and every person who owns shares in X, and unless an investor in a private company owns a large stake, it's fairly easy to keep it out of the public eye.
Having said that, Elon Musk is X's largest shareholder, and by a wide margin. After Musk is Prince Alwaleed, whose $1.89 billion stake that was rolled over represented about 4.3% of the company when it was taken private, based on Musk's $44 billion purchase price.
Next, as far as we know, is Jack Dorsey, who co-founded the business and rolled over a $1 billion stake, a little more than 2% of the company at the time of Musk's acquisition. Dorsey was rather supportive of Musk's acquisition of the platform, saying that he trusted Musk to be the owner and that taking the platform back from Wall Street was the right move.
The board of directors
Who is on the board of directors for X?
As a publicly traded company, X (then Twitter) had a board of directors with nine members, including then-CEO Parag Agrawal.
Immediately following Musk's takeover of X in Oct. 2022, he dissolved the company's board of directors and fired its key leaders, appointed himself CEO, and became the company's sole director. However, at the time, Musk stated on the platform that the dissolution of the board "is just temporary."
As of March 2024, Linda Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal executive, is the CEO of X Corp. Musk serves as chief technology officer (CTO) and still has the executive chairman role. No further information has been released about the re-forming of a board of directors, so as far as we know, Elon Musk is still the only director.
How to invest
How to invest in X
As a private company, there is no way for most people to invest directly in X (unless you're an X employee yourself). But there are a few ways to invest indirectly.
One example is the Ark Venture Fund -- a private equity fund designed for everyday investors to be able to buy shares -- led by Cathie Wood's Ark Invest. In addition to owning a stake in X, the Ark Venture Fund owns shares of another private Musk-led company, SpaceX. You'll also find several other high-profile private businesses, including Epic Games, Discord, Flexport, and more. It also owns stock in some publicly traded companies, including Coinbase (COIN -3.49%), Robinhood (HOOD -1.34%), Block (SQ -0.14%), and Tesla, which are found in several of Ark's exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)
An exchange-traded fund, or ETF, allows investors to buy many stocks or bonds at once.
Another way is to go through a third-party marketplace, such as UpMarket, that facilitates purchases of the stocks of privately held companies. These platforms might offer funds that invest in a portfolio of companies, including X, or might let you buy shares of X individually. To use this method, you'll need to be an accredited investor, which generally means having a net worth of at least $1 million, excluding your primary residence or annual income of $200,000 or more ($300,000 for couples).
Investing in X competitors
An alternative would be to invest in some of the publicly traded social media companies.
Meta Platforms (META 0.19%) is the most prominent example, as it has a roughly $1.2 trillion valuation and billions of active users worldwide. However, Meta isn't a pure social media business, with its Reality Labs division developing metaverse-related hardware and software products.
Related investing topics
Pinterest (PINS -1.53%) is another publicly traded social media platform with over 400 million active users. Pinterest is a somewhat different type of social media platform than Meta or X, as it focuses on sharing and finding ideas rather than keeping up with individuals.
There are a few others. Snap (NASDAQ:SNAP), the parent company of Snapchat, is publicly traded. There's also the neighborhood-focused social media platform Nextdoor (NASDAQ:KIND).
FAQ
Who Owns X: FAQ
Who is the current owner of X?
Elon Musk is the majority owner of X Corp and its parent company, X Holdings. However, others own shares in X. Larger investors include Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudia Arabia, who rolled over a $1.89 billion stake that was owned prior to Musk's takeover. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison also owns a considerable stake, as does Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey.
In addition, X's employees own shares of the business. According to several reports, employees have been offered the opportunity to purchase shares in the business and have also been granted restricted stock units (RSUs) in two separate rounds.
Is X owned by Meta?
No, Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) is a main competitor of X and doesn't own any significant stake in the business. Since X is a private company, we don't know whether Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg or any other key Meta leaders own shares of X for sure, but Meta itself isn't a shareholder. In fact, subsequent to Musk's takeover of the company, Meta started working on its competing platform, Threads, in late 2022 and released it in July 2023.
Who owns the X website?
X, formerly Twitter, is the main business of X Corp., which was established by Elon Musk shortly after acquiring Twitter. X Corp. is a subsidiary of parent company X Holdings, which owns no other major assets as of early 2024. However, Elon Musk has founded several other businesses that could ultimately be part of the "X" family.
Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Matt Frankel has positions in Block, PayPal, and Pinterest. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Block, Coinbase Global, Meta Platforms, PayPal, Pinterest, and Tesla. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: short March 2024 $67.50 calls on PayPal. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
