Tesla CEO Elon Musk has bought a 9,2% stake in Twitter which is said to have a USD$3 billion holding value.
Recently Elon Musk has been voicing concerns that Twitter is failing to adhere to free speech principles. On March 25, he 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.
70% of 2 million Twitter users voted “No,” and Musk alleged that Twitter was failing to adhere to free speech principles and undermining democracy in the process. He said Twitter was the “de facto public town square”.
Twitter said Musk purchased around 73.4 million common shares in the social media platform in its regulatory filing. The disclosure has led to a 25% surge in Twitter’s share price in pre-market trading at 7:15 a.m. ET on Monday. The Financial Times notes that this acquisition would make Musk the company’s largest shareholder, nearly four times the size of founder Jack Dorsey’s 2.25% stake.
Elon Musk is yet to publicly acknowledge the acquisition but this move shows that money gives one the freedom to make a lot of decisions. Musk is currently the richest person in the world according to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaire’s List with a net worth of $287.6 billion.