Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), unveiled a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter Inc (TWTR.N), valued at over $3 billion, putting him as the microblogging site’s top stakeholder and driving its shares to rise more than 20%.
Musk’s move comes days after he tweeted that he was “thinking” of launching a new social media platform and questioned Twitter’s commitment to free speech.
Musk has gained over 80 million followers on Twitter since 2009 and has used the platform to make a variety of announcements, including dangling a Tesla go-private plan that landed him in regulatory hot water.
He has lately criticized the social media platform and its methods, arguing that the firm is undermining democracy by refusing to submit to free speech principles.
“It does send a message to Twitter … having a meaningful stake in the company will keep them on their toes because that passive stake could very quickly become an active stake,” said Thomas Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC.
Musk, who is also one of the richest people on this planet, has been selling Tesla shares since November when he revealed plans to sell 10% of his stake in the electric automaker. He has since sold $16.4 billion in shares.
According to a regulatory filing on Monday, Musk owns 73.5 million Twitter shares via the Elon Musk Revocable Trust, of which he is the only trustee. Vanguard is Twitter’s second-largest stakeholder, with an 8.79 percent stake, according to Refinitiv data.
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