Tesla CEO Elon Musk has acquired a 9% stake in Twitter worth almost $3 billion. The purchase, revealed in a recent regulatory filing, gets Musk a whopping 73,486,938 shares in the popular social media platform.
Despite being described as a passive investment, one analyst believes the move is “just the start” of Musk’s involvement with Twitter.
Elon Musk spends big on Twitter shares
Musk has long been an avid tweeter, using the platform to post announcements surrounding Tesla and SpaceX, as well to share more personal news. His Twitter use has also landed him in hot water more than a few times.
And now Musk is no longer just a Twitter fan, but also the largest shareholder in the social media giant, which has almost 400 million active users worldwide.
A potential ownership role?
A March 14 SEC filing, published Monday, reveals Musk has acquired almost 74 million Twitter shares for almost $3 billion. His 9.2% stake in the company is more than four times the 2.25% held by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
The price of Twitter shares surged 25% to $49.09 following Musk’s purchase. And according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, this is likely just the start of Musk’s involvement in the company.
“We would expect this passive stake as just the start of broader conversations with the Twitter board/management that could ultimately lead to an active stake and a potential more aggressive ownership role of Twitter,” Ives told investors.
Musk teases Twitter move
Today’s news comes less than two weeks after Musk tweeted, “free speech is essential to a functioning democracy,” and asked his 80 million followers whether they believe “Twitter rigorously adheres to this policy.”
“The consequences of this poll will be important,” Musk said. “Please vote carefully.” 70.4% percent of respondents voted “no.”
Twitter’s market cap now sits at $31.47 billion as of Monday morning. The company has been on a mostly downward trend for much of the past year, but it has ambitious goals to grow revenue to $7.5 billion by the end of 2023.
Via: Sky News
