Elon Musk’s X must disclose full ownership structure, judge rules

Who and what exactly is invested in Elon Musk’s X Holdings, the entity behind the X platform and X.ai, is about to become a matter of public record.

In a Tuesday ruling, a federal judge in California decided that a detailed corporate disclosure statement from X Holdings should be unsealed, a move that would effectively pull the curtain back to reveal the list of stakeholders in the parent company of X, formerly known as Twitter, and X.ai, an AI startup that Musk launched in 2023. Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion, taking the company private and laying off roughly three-quarters of its staff.

A group of former Twitter employees sued X last year seeking payment of arbitration fees incurred as a result of disputes with their former employer. Jacob Silverman, a freelance journalist, aided by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, intervened in the case in order to get the disclosure unsealed.

While attorneys for Musk and X argued that, “as a matter of routine practice and policy, X holdings does not publish or make publicly available information regarding its owners/shareholders and treats such information as confidential,” the judge was not swayed by any purported need for secrecy.

“Here, respondents have presented little more than conjecture in support of their position,” the judge wrote. “The disclosure statement does not contain any scandalous information or trade secrets. On the record before it, the court is unable to discern a factual basis for sealing the disclosure.”

Several of the investors in X Holdings were reported at the time of Musk's takeover, including Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, who rolled over more than $1 billion worth of his Twitter shares into the company; Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison; and Silicon Valley VCs Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. But Musk has never disclosed a complete breakdown of investors or the company’s structure. X holdings now has until Sept. 4 to file the document in court.

Silverman said he decided to intervene in the case because "it's important that the public knows who owns the platform, who might influence its governance, and who Musk owes."

"Simply, it's about transparency, disclosure, and free speech—on behalf of the public and X's users," Silverman added.

X did not respond to a request for comment.

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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com