Gulf Money, U.S. Favors

Trump administration negotiated the TikTok-US operating arrangement, which closed with this January 2026 deal four months after MGX's September 2025 selection as an approved operator.

Chairs MGX; the TikTok-US selection extended his commercial footprint in another sensitive US market.

President of the Trump Organization; oversees the Dar Global licensing relationship under which Trump Plaza Jeddah was announced.

Saudi de facto ruler. Humain is a Public Investment Fund subsidiary under his control; he secured the chip allocation during his White House visit as part of a broader package that included F-35s and MNNA status.

Co-founder of World Liberty Financial through the Witkoff family; held a financial interest in the firm at the time of the UAE investment despite announced plans to divest, according to an August 2025 disclosure document.

Publicly announced the $2 billion UAE investment at a Dubai conference in May 2025 and held a stake in World Liberty Financial as a co-founder alongside the Trump family.

Binance founder whose stake in the exchange MGX acquired with $2 billion of WLF's USD1 stablecoin; later pardoned by Trump in October 2025.

World Liberty Financial co-founder; an entity tied to him and Zachary Folkman received $31 million of the first installment.

Served as a key broker in the chip negotiations in his role as Trump's AI and crypto czar, operating under a White House ethics waiver that allowed him to participate despite his continuing work as a Silicon Valley venture capitalist.

MGX chief strategy and safety officer; takes a seat on the new TikTok-US venture's board representing MGX's 15 percent stake.

Silver Lake co-chief executive; takes a seat on the new TikTok-US venture's board representing Silver Lake's 15 percent stake. Also sits on the boards of Dell, G42, and Waymo.

Founded Affinity Partners in 2021 after leaving his White House senior-adviser role six months earlier; secured the $2 billion PIF commitment that became the firm's cornerstone investment. The 1.25 percent annual management fee on PIF's capital generates roughly $25 million per year for the firm regardless of performance.

Oracle executive vice president; takes a seat on the new TikTok-US venture's board representing Oracle's 15 percent stake.

Oracle co-founder, executive chairman, and chief technology officer; one of the world's richest people. Indirect exposure to TikTok-US via Oracle's 15 percent stake. The NYT notes he has frequently visited the White House and Mar-a-Lago.

G42 general counsel and Royal Group adviser; co-signed the Aryam purchase agreement on the buyer's side and took a seat on World Liberty Financial's five-person board.

G42 CEO; co-signed the Aryam purchase agreement on the buyer's side and took a seat on World Liberty Financial's five-person board.

Signed the memorandum of understanding on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, formally accepting Qatar's donation of the Boeing 747 with no post-presidency conditions.

As Air Force Secretary, confirmed and directed that refurbishment funding for the donated Qatari jet would be drawn from the Sentinel ICBM replacement program budget.

World Liberty Financial co-founder; an entity tied to him and Chase Herro received $31 million of the first installment.

London-listed international arm of Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan; announced the $1B Trump Plaza Jeddah in September 2025 as its second Jeddah-based collaboration with the Trump Organization.

15 percent stake — tied for the largest investor position. Emirati AI/tech investment firm founded 2024 by Mubadala and G42; chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Chief strategy and safety officer David Scott takes a seat on the new venture's board. Closing of MGX's September 2025 selection as a TikTok-US operator under the Trump-negotiated arrangement.

Receives branding and management fees on the $1B Trump Plaza Jeddah residential / serviced-apartment / office / townhouse complex.

Direct beneficiary of the accelerated review regime for inbound investment.

Emirati AI company; co-founder and part owner of MGX, gaining indirect equity exposure to TikTok-US through MGX's 15 percent stake. The NYT notes the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies under the Biden administration warned about G42's ties to large Chinese firms considered security threats; G42 has since divested some of those holdings (including in ByteDance) as part of a Microsoft partnership.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund agreed to take a 15.1% equity stake — about $10 billion — in the merged Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery. It is the same fund that committed $2 billion to Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners in 2021 over the unanimous objection of its own screening committee.

Host government and PIF parent. The chip release advances Saudi national AI capacity at the same visit that produced the F-35 commitment and MNNA designation.

Received a $2 billion investment from a UAE sovereign wealth firm controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon, propelling it into one of the world's most prominent crypto companies.

Kushner's newly formed private equity firm. The $2 billion PIF commitment made the Saudi government the firm's cornerstone investor and constituted the bulk of its reported assets under management. In exchange, PIF received a stake of at least 28 percent in Affinity's main investment vehicle.

Twin Delaware and Abu Dhabi entities registered two days apart in December 2024 with no public record of ownership; the named buyer in the $500 million purchase agreement.

Crypto exchange whose 49% stake purchase by MGX was settled with $2 billion of World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin.

Chinese parent that spun out the U.S. operation; retains a 19.9 percent stake — the legal maximum under the 2024 federal divestiture law — and licenses the recommendation algorithm to the new U.S. entity. Founded 2012; valued at $480 billion in private markets. CEO Liang Rubo; co-founder Zhang Yiming remains involved in strategy.

Named as the receiving entity in the MOU; given sole discretion over use or disposal of the donated aircraft under Hegseth's direction.

Trump family pass-through vehicle that received a share of the $187 million Trump-family payout from the first $250 million installment. Trump personally owned 70% as of end-2024 per his disclosures.

Trump family pass-through vehicle that received the remainder of the $187 million Trump-family payout. Trump's ownership breakdown not publicly disclosed.

Saudi PIF-backed AI firm; received approval for 35,000 advanced Nvidia chips despite U.S. export controls designed to prevent China diversion.

A government-owned Abu Dhabi investment vehicle with no prior public record of international dealmaking; it agreed to take a 12.8% equity stake in the merged Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery — reported to be its first known cross-border transaction.

F-35 prime contractor; stands to receive a multi-billion-dollar foreign military sale if the deal clears the QME review and Congressional approval.

Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund; co-founder and part owner of MGX, gaining indirect equity exposure to TikTok-US through MGX's 15 percent stake.

Chip supplier; the release expands Nvidia's Gulf AI market and continues a pattern of administration favors following the $1M inaugural donation and the August 2025 China export-license revenue-share deal.

15 percent stake — tied for the largest investor position. Will oversee the security of Americans' data and monitor changes and updates to TikTok's recommendation technology. Has housed Americans' TikTok data on its servers since 2022. Executive vice president Kenneth Glueck takes a seat on the new venture's board.

Paramount Skydance secured roughly $24 billion in equity financing from the three Gulf sovereign wealth funds for its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, and asked the FCC to permit foreign ownership above its 25% statutory limit. The Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners retain full voting control.

Donated a luxury Boeing 747 to the U.S. government unconditionally, receiving no concrete return within this action.

Qatar's sovereign wealth fund agreed to take a 10.6% equity stake in the merged company as part of the roughly $24 billion in Gulf financing for Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

15 percent stake — tied for the largest investor position. Menlo Park-based tech investment firm; co-CEO Egon Durban takes a seat on the new venture's board and also sits on the boards of Dell, G42, and Waymo. Silver Lake has invested in G42 since 2021 and previously teamed with MGX on the 2025 Altera acquisition; its affiliate Vantage Data Centers invested $15 billion in a Wisconsin Oracle/OpenAI data-center campus.

New American venture spun out from ByteDance to operate TikTok in the United States under the 2024 federal divestiture law; ~80 percent owned by non-Chinese investors with ByteDance retaining 19.9 percent. Licenses the TikTok recommendation algorithm from ByteDance and holds authority to moderate content on the U.S. app.

The institutional body directed to execute the refurbishment of the Qatari Boeing 747 using funds redirected from the Sentinel nuclear missile program.