Companies linked to the Chinese government have been found to be financiers of Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter.
A new Securities and Exchange Commission document revealed that among the many financiers of Elon Musk's bid to buy the social media giant Twitter, several are Chinese Communist Party-linked companies and investment funds. Proof of this can be found in an amendment filed by Musk on May 4, in which he listed more than one dozen equity investors, who are people or companies funding his purchase in exchange for a share of ownership in Twitter.
Referred to as "Equity Investors," each entity in the table shown in the document have "committed to contribute...cash in the amount set forth opposite such Equity Investor's name." This is in order to "fund a portion of the Merger Consideration contemplated by the Merger Agreement," the document said as per the National Pulse.
Elon Musk Teamed Up with Chinese Investors to Buy Twitter
Dozens of companies were listed in the document as entities who helped fund Musk's bid for Twitter, but one of them stands out: Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange platform company with ties to the CCP. This CCP-linked company has an aggregate equity commitment to Musk that amounts to $500,000,000.
Binance is founded by Chinese-Canadian business executive Changpeng Zhao and retains partnerships with Chinese state-owned entities. According to a 2020 press release, the Binance China Blockchain Institute, which is part of the blockchain and cryptocurrency infrastructure provider Binance is a partner of the Zhongshang Beidou Supply Chain Management Group, described as a "state-level model enterprise for supply chain innovation and application established by (China) Commercial Network Construction Development Center."
Binance is also a participant in China's Belt and Road Initiative, alongside several other state-owned enterprises in China. Directors and Managers at Binance also have a history working for other state-controlled entities such as media companies, universities, and even Tencent and the Chinese Communist Party's State Council.
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Musk's Biggest Twitter Financiers Have Ties to the CCP
Meanwhile, another notable company that has pledged up to $800,000,000 to Musk's bid for Twitter is Sequoia Capital China, another company with strong ties to the CCP. The company was founded by Neil Shen, who has figured in high-level Chinese Communist Party strategy meetings. His fund also supports companies such as TikTok's parent company ByteDance, Chinese drone maker DJI that has been sanctioned, and genomics firm BGI, which U.S. intelligence officials accused of trying to steal Americans' personal genetic information.
Among Sequoia China's portfolio are Alibaba and Ant Financial, which plays a key role in China's "social credit" score system.
Musk has hinted at reforming Twitter and even offered to reinstate former President Donald Trump's account that was permanently banned in January 2021. The Tesla CEO believes that there should be "a single forum where everyone can debate," the Christian Headlines reported.
However, some are concerned that the inclusion of CCP-linked companies with communist ties as investors in Musk's purchase of Twitter may hinder his plans in reforming the social media giant from within.
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