Elon Musk buys 9.2% stake in Twitter, becomes largest shareholder

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, a US based electric vehicle and clean energy company has purchased a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter to become the social media platform’s largest shareholder.

Musk’s acquisition was disclosed in filings made to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday.

The Tesla boss, who is very active on the microblogging platform with more than 80 million followers, paid $2.89bn for the stake at Twitter’s closing share price on Friday.

However, the microblogging share price surged by 25 percent in pre-market trading, following the disclosure at 7:15 AM on Monday.

The acquisition would make Musk’s stake in the company nearly four times the size of founder Jack Dorsey’s 2.25 percent stake, according to financial times.

Meanwhile, the CEO has not issued any official Statement on the acquisition but he previously tweeted about change in operations of the platform and also contemplates creating a rival platform.

On March 25, Musk conducted a poll on Twitter asking his followers if they believe that Twitter “rigorously adheres” to the principle of free speech, adding that the consequences of the poll will be important. After around 70% of 2 million Twitter users voted “No,” Musk noted that Twitter was the “de facto public town square” and alleged that it was failing to adhere to free speech principles and undermining democracy in the process.

“Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.

Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?

Yes 30, No 70,” he tweeted.

He disclosed that the consequences of the poll will be very important, while urging them to vote carefully

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In line with the development, analysts stood by the opinion that the stake bought by Musk could eventually result in the 50-year-old declaring interest in the microblogging site that could lead to a total acquisition.

“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,” Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities said.

Meanwhile, Musk maintains the richest person in the world with a net worth of $287.6 billion, according to Forbes, while the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sits in a distant second place with a net worth of $189.3 billion.