In a recent court filing, it has been revealed that some of Silicon Valley's top venture capitalists, a Saudi royal, and a fund linked to hip hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs were among the investors that aided Elon Musk in acquiring X for a staggering $44 billion two years ago. The list of shareholders involved in the group that took the company formerly known as Twitter private in October 2022 has been ordered to be unsealed by a federal judge in San Francisco.

According to The Washington Post, the filing lists nearly 100 investors who now own a stake in X. Noted venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al Saud, and Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey have been revealed as part owners of X. The Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a close friend of Musk, reportedly contributed $1 billion towards the investment group that purchased Twitter.

X, formerly Twitter, had initially resisted disclosing the list of investors but was compelled to do so after being sued by former Twitter employees who claimed that Musk violated their arbitration agreements by failing to pay certain fees after the acquisition. In response to a motion filed by technology journalist Jacob Silverman, the court granted the request to unseal the documents, emphasizing the public's interest in knowing who owns X.

To complete the massive purchase, Elon Musk borrowed a substantial sum of $13 billion from various banks including Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Barclays. As a consequence, Musk now faces annual interest payments exceeding $1 billion to these banks. An analysis by The Wall Street Journal suggests that these loans have turned out to be the worst merger-finance deal for lenders since the recession of 2008-2009. The banks have struggled to sell the debt to other investors, resulting in the loans remaining "hung" on their balance sheets.

Recent leaked documents by X indicate a significant drop in the company's value by over 70% to around $12.5 billion. Fidelity, the mutual fund giant that participated in Musk's acquisition of X, marked down the value of its shares between $15 billion and $16 billion. It is worth noting that at the time of the acquisition, both Musk and the lenders were aware that the $44 billion price tag was significantly higher than the company's actual value. However, the banks were enticed to extend the loans to Musk due to the allure of serving the then-richest person in the world.

Since Musk took over Twitter, the company has faced multiple challenges. He reduced the workforce by approximately 80% and struggled to regain advertisers who left the platform due to concerns over lax content moderation policies, which critics argue have allowed hate speech to proliferate. The Washington Post has reached out to X for comment on the recent revelations surrounding its shareholders.

As this court filing sheds light on the influential figures who played a role in Elon Musk's acquisition of X, the public's curiosity about the future of this embattled company is amplified.