Saudi Arabian investment company Kingdom Holding (KHC) is open to investing in ByteDance’s TikTok if Tesla CEO Elon Musk or another buyer acquires the popular short-video app, CEO Talal Ibrahim al-Maiman said in an interview with Al Arabiya TV on Wednesday.
The search for a buyer continues in the U.S. after TikTok faced potential bans under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which delayed the enforcement for 75 days. On Tuesday, Trump expressed openness to Musk buying the app if the billionaire showed interest.
KHC already holds stakes in Musk’s social media platform X and his AI startup, xAI. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, PIF, holds a minority stake in KHC, with 5% of the company traded on the Saudi stock exchange.
Al-Maiman also discussed the upcoming listing of low-cost Saudi airline flynas, in which KHC has significant shares. The company is in the final stages of seeking approval from the Saudi regulator, CMA, for the listing.
While KHC maintains a diverse portfolio across industries such as petrochemicals, healthcare, real estate, and e-commerce, the company is not currently interested in investing in cryptocurrencies. “We support Mr. Buffett’s theory that you don’t invest in what you cannot buy goods with, so we are not looking into cryptocurrencies at this time,” al-Maiman stated.
