Elon Musk, the celebrity billionaire and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has purchased a 9% stake in Twitter Inc., sending the mini-blogging social media’s stock value to $49.34 per share in premarket trading, a 26% rise, The Wall Street Journal reported this Monday, April 4.
Musk holds 73,486,938 shares of common stock held by the Elon Musk Revocable T 2003, according to the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing.
The stake is worth $2.9 billion, based on Twitter’s closing price of $39.31 per share on Friday (April 1) and jumped by over a quarter of its value when the market opened on Monday.
Last month, Musk, who has taken to Twitter to criticize the platform, said he is considering launching a social media platform, according to Reuters.
Musk has been critical of Twitter’s policies, arguing that the company doesn’t adhere to free speech principles. Musk recently ran a Twitter poll asking users if they believe Twitter was sticking to the principles of free speech, adding in another tweet that the poll’s consequences “will be important.”
“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy,” Musk tweeted. 70% of respondents voted No on the poll, backing Musk’s questioning of Twitter’s policies towards restricting what is published on their app.
Reuters commented that if Musk does go ahead and make a new platform, he’d be part of a growing contingent of tech companies positioning themselves as “champions of free speech.”
The stake makes Musk the largest Twitter shareholder, exceeding founder Jack Dorsey’s 2.25% shares.
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