Elon Musk speaks during a press conference at SpaceX’s starbase near the village of Boca Chica in South Texas on February 10, 2022.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
Outspoken Tesla CEO Elon Musk acquired a huge stake in Twitter, making him the social media stock’s largest outside shareholder, not long after he criticized the company for failing to uphold free speech principles.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 13G filing released Monday, Musk owns 73,486,938 shares of Twitter, representing a 9.2% passive stake in the company. The stake is worth $2.89 billion based on Twitter’s closing price on Friday.
Musk’s purchase comes less than two weeks after Musk criticized the company and questioned people on Twitter about Twitter’s adherence to free speech principles. “Given that Twitter serves as a de facto public marketplace, failure to uphold the principles of free speech fundamentally undermines democracy,” Musk tweeted. “What is to be done?”
Despite being classified as passive holding, investors bid shares higher as it could lead to something more. Twitter shares are up more than 25% in the premarket.
“Musk might try to take a more aggressive stance here on Twitter,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday. “This could eventually lead to some sort of takeover.”
“This makes sense given what Musk was at least talking about, at least from a social media perspective,” Ives said.
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 funding” to take Tesla private for $420 per share. The 12 months following that tweet have been a rollercoaster ride for Musk and Tesla shareholders. During this time, the company set performance records, but also had to deal with litigation, regulatory investigations, and layoffs. Musk also reached a settlement with the SEC that removed him from the role of chairman at Tesla.