Gulf investors emerge as key players in US social media giants TikTok, Snap, X
With UAE tech investor MGX set to take a stake in TikTok's US operations, investors from the Middle East could cement their role in America's social media landscape.
The battle to control TikTok’s future in the United States could prove a moneymaker for one of the Middle East’s most ambitious tech investors. On Sept. 25, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order clearing the way for the social media giant’s US operations to be sold to a group of non-Chinese investors, including United Arab Emirates-based artificial intelligence fund MGX.
Under the proposed deal, which values TikTok’s US business at $14 billion, the Trump administration has lined up a new ownership group consisting of MGX and several US investors, according to multiple US media reports.
If finalized, Abu Dhabi’s stake in TikTok could mark the most significant Gulf investment yet in the American social media sector, highlighting a growing trend: deep-pocketed Middle Eastern dealmakers are becoming major backers of US tech platforms that now function as politically strategic assets reaching hundreds of millions of Americans.
For instance, on Sept. 22, Bloomberg reported that Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal had increased his holdings in TikTok rival Snap Inc., amassing a position worth more than $300 million in the US firm.
