Elon Musk’s mystery Tesla buyout funder is Saudi Arabia

Enlarge / Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is the mystery funder that has offered to finance a deal to take Tesla private, Elon Musk wrote in a Monday morning blog post. The post lays to rest a mystery that has bedeviled Wall Street and the news media since Musk tweeted last Tuesday that he had "funding secured" for a buyout.

"Going back almost two years, the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund has approached me multiple times about taking Tesla private," Musk wrote in his Monday post. "They first met with me at the beginning of 2017 to express this interest because of the important need to diversify away from oil."

In late July, the Saudis purchased almost five percent of Tesla's stock (acquiring more than five percent would have triggered public disclosure requirements). They then met with Musk on July 31 and reiterated their interest in funding a buyout.

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