Finance

Elon Musk: ‘probably’ wouldn’t take money from Saudi Arabia

Published

6 years ago

November 2, 2018

Mark Matousek

Tesla CEO Elon Musk.Max Whittaker / Getty Images

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in an interview with Recode published on Friday that he “probably” wouldn’t take an investment from Saudi Arabia in the wake of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death.
Saudi Arabia’s government has been under intense scrutiny since Khashoggi, a journalist who had written critically about the Saudi government Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in early October.
Khashoggi’s death has prompted questions about the role Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has played in financing American businesses and the ethics of taking investments from governments with reputations for violating human rights.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in an interview with Recode published on Friday that he “probably” wouldn’t take an investment from Saudi Arabia in the wake of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death.

“Would you take their money now?” Recode executive editor Kara Swisher asked.

“I think we probably would not, yes,” Musk replied.

Saudi Arabia’s government has been under intense scrutiny since Khashoggi, a journalist who had written critically about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in early October.

The Saudi government has given multiple, inconsistent accounts of the events that led to Khashoggi’s death that have been met with skepticism. While the Saudi government has denied that bin Salman ordered Khashoggi’s death, a Reuters report from October suggested one of bin Salman’s top aides directed Khashoggi’s killing via Skype.

Khashoggi’s death has prompted questions about the role Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has played in financing American businesses and the ethics of taking investments from governments with reputations for violating human rights.

Before Khashoggi’s death, Musk said in August that he had secured the funding necessary to convert Tesla into a private company, later saying he had met with the managing director of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in July. Musk said he “left the July 31st meeting with no question that a deal with the Saudi sovereign fund could be closed, and that it was just a matter of getting the process moving.”

Tesla ultimately remained a public company, and Musk’s statements about potentially taking Tesla private led to an investigation from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a reported investigation from the Department of Justice. The SEC investigation resulted in a settlement with Musk that requires him to step down as the chairman of Tesla’s board of directors for three years and pay a $20 million fine.