Saudi Prince Al Waleed Takes 5% Stake in Lucid Motors

Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud has acquired a 5% stake in Lucid Motors, adding to Saudi Arabia's already substantial ownership of the struggling electric vehicle manufacturer.

A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission published Tuesday shows that the Saudi royal family member purchased slightly more than 19 million Lucid shares. Al Waleed said on X that his investment office purchased while Lucid’s market capitalisation was below $2 billion.

Lucid briefly fell below that level on July 14 after an electric vehicle publication reported that the company was considering bankruptcy protection or a potential deal to be taken private by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Lucid strongly denied the report, and its shares have since recovered.

“We don’t comment on individual investments, but we are aware and appreciate the independent vote of confidence,” Lucid Chief Communications Officer Nick Twork said.

Lucid is undergoing a major restructuring.

The investment comes as Lucid works through a significant restructuring under newly appointed CEO Silvio Napoli. The company cut approximately 18% of its workforce in June as part of an effort to simplify its operations, following another major round of layoffs earlier in the year.

Saudi Arabia already controls Lucid through its Public Investment Fund, commonly known as PIF. The sovereign wealth fund first invested in the automaker in 2018 and has held roughly 60% of Lucid since the company went public through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company in 2021.

That transaction raised about $4 billion. Since then, PIF has continued supporting Lucid through additional share purchases and billions of dollars in financing as the EV maker works to expand sales and reach a broader market in the US and internationally.

Al Waleed has a long history of US tech investments

Prince Al Waleed is also known for investing in major American technology companies. Through his investment business, he was a significant shareholder in Twitter before Elon Musk acquired the social network in 2022.

Although Al Waleed initially opposed Musk’s takeover offer, he later supported the transaction and became Twitter’s second-largest shareholder after Musk took the company private. It remains unclear whether he maintained that investment through Twitter’s transformation into X and its subsequent corporate changes.

Al Waleed has also invested in companies including Snap and music streaming service Deezer. His latest investment gives him a significant individual position in Lucid while further increasing Saudi interests in an automaker already backed heavily by the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund.