Court documents reveal Diddy invested in X in the Elon Musk era

Investors in platform that Tesla CEO bought for $44bn in 2022 include Silicon Valley venture capital firms and fund linked to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

A detailed list of investors in Elon Musk’s X platform has been unsealed in federal court.

The backers of the platform, which Musk purchased for $44bn in 2022, include some familiar names, like venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and 8VC; Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey; and funds tied to Fidelity.

Others investors come from the worlds of politics and entertainment, including Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al Saud and a fund linked to music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.

The revelations came Tuesday in a San Francisco federal court in response to a motion from technology journalist Jacob Silverman and the Reporters Commitee for Freedom of the Press.

They sought to unseal the investor list, which was part of a 2023 lawsuit from former Twitter employees alleging Musk violated their arbitration agreements when he purchased the company.

Journalist and press group sued to unseal investor list from employee lawsuit (Getty Images)

“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 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.”

In a statement to The Washington Post, Reporters Committee legal director Katie Townsend said it was in “the interest of the general public in knowing who owns X.”

The Independent has contacted X for comment.

X has been no stranger to legal drama lately.

Earlier this month, it filed an antitrust lawsuit against an industry group representing numerous global brands, including the social network’s own advertisers, accusing it of conspiring to deprive X of billions of dollars.

The lawsuit prompted the Global Alliance for Responsible Media to shut down.

“GARM is a small, not-for-profit initiative, and recent allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities have caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances,” the group said in a statement to DEADLINE. “WFA therefore is making the difficult decision to discontinue GARM activities.”