Outspoken Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought a giant stake in Twitter that makes him the largest outside shareholder in a social media stock, not long after criticizing the company for what he said was its failure. to uphold the principles of free speech.
Musk owns 73,486,938 shares of Twitter, representing a passive 9.2% stake in the company, according to a 13G Securities and Exchange Commission filing released Monday. The stock is worth $2.89 billion, based on Twitter’s closing price on Friday.
The purchase comes less than two weeks after Musk criticized the company, polling people on Twitter about whether it adheres to free speech principles. “Given that Twitter serves as the town’s de facto public square, disregarding the principles of free speech fundamentally undermines democracy,” Musk wrote on Twitter. “What must be done?”
Late last month, Musk also said he was considering building a new social media platform.
While classified as a passive stock, investors were bidding higher shares with the possibility that this would lead to something more. Shares in Twitter rose more than 27%.
“Musk may try to take a more aggressive stance here on Twitter,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Monday. “It could eventually lead to some kind of acquisition.”
“It makes sense given what Musk has been talking about at least, at least from a social media perspective,” Ives said.
Twitter declined to comment.
Musk is a frequent user of Twitter and has more than 80 million followers on the platform. However, some of his tweets have landed the Tesla boss in hot water over the years.
On August 7, 2018, Musk tweeted that he had “secured financing” to take Tesla private at $420 per share. The 12 months after that tweet were a roller coaster for Musk and Tesla shareholders. In that time, the company set performance records, but also had to deal with lawsuits, government investigations and layoffs. Musk also reached a settlement with the SEC that removed him from his role as chairman at Tesla.
— CNBC’s Jessica Bursztynsky contributed to this report.
