Saudi investors welcome 'dear friend' Elon Musk as new Twitter CEO

Saudi investors welcomed Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter on Friday, saying they were "together all the way" with the new ownership. 

The Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) and the private office of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal released a statement on the social media platform saying they would remain in control of their 34,948,975 Twitter shares, valued at $1.89 billion. 

This makes the Saudis the second largest investor alongside the South African business tycoon. They had initially criticised Musk for miscalculating the platform's "intrinsic value". 

"This deal is in line with the long-term investment strategy for which Kingdom Holding Company is known for," the KHC statement read. 

KHC was founded by Prince Waleed bin Talal, the grandson of Saudi Arabia's founder Abdul Aziz ibn Saud  It is 16.9 percent owned by the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund, a multi-billion dollar fund run by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman which has made a number of high-profile purchases such as buying Newcastle Football club. 

Musk took control of Twitter, which has more than 230 million users, on Friday. His first move as CEO involved firing a number of senior figures, including chief executive Parag Agrawal and chief financial officer Ned Segal. 

The SpaceX founder said his reasons for buying the social media platform was "to try to help humanity". 

Musk has visioned Twitter as a "common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence". 

Saudi Arabia is a prolific human rights abuser that regularly imprisons people for expressing dissenting opinions. This year, a Saudi mother of two was given a 34-year jail sentence for retweeting tweets mildly critical of the government.