Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed that he had serious thoughts about owning social media. This statement turned out to be serious. He bought Twitter stock.
Based on a report to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Elon Musk has bought 73.49 million shares of Twitter or the equivalent of 9.2% of shares without voting rights. Its value reaches US $ 2.89 billion.
This share ownership makes Elon Musk the largest shareholder of Twitter. The impact of this report has seen Twitter’s share price rise 25% over 25% in the premarket.
“Elon Musk could try to take a more progressive stance here on Twitter,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, as quoted by CNBC International, Monday (4/4/2022). “This could eventually lead to some sort of [Twitter] buying.”
Two weeks earlier, Elon Musk had criticized Twitter. He even polled his followers on Twitter about whether Twitter adheres to the principles of free speech.
“Given Twitter functions as a ‘de facto public city square’, failing to adhere to the principles of free speech is fundamentally undermining democracy,” Elon Musk wrote on his personal account. “What to do?”
Elon Musk, a prolific Twitter user, has more than 80 million followers since joining in 2009.
He has used the platform to make several announcements, including asking followers about selling Tesla shares.
Musk, however, has also been critical of the social media platform and its policies of late. He said social media undermined democracy by failing to adhere to the principles of free speech.