Elon Musk in Twitter: According to a regulatory filing Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought a 9.2 percent interest in Twitter, totaling 73.5 million shares.
Mr. Musk’s Twitter holding is classified as a passive investment, indicating that he is a long-term investor who wants to keep his buying and selling to a minimum.
Mr. Musk, on the other hand, has recently raised concerns on Twitter about free speech and whether failing to adhere to its basic principles damages democracy. He’s reportedly considered creating his own social media network, and industry watchers doubt that the erratic CEO would stay out of the spotlight for long.
“We would anticipate this passive stake to be the beginning of broader conversations with the Twitter board/management that might eventually lead to an active stake and a potential more aggressive ownership role for Twitter,” Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives said in a client note early Monday.
Twitter’s stock jumped 25% after Elon Musk’s purchase
Elon Musk requested a federal judge early last month to overturn a securities regulators’ subpoena and a 2018 court deal that required Mr. Musk to have someone pre-approve his Twitter remarks. Securities regulators in the United States said they had the legal jurisdiction to subpoena Tesla and Mr. Musk over his tweets, and that Mr. Musk’s attempt to overturn a 2018 court order that his tweets be pre-approved was invalid.
Mr. Musk’s disclosure about his Twitter stock comes just two days after Tesla Inc. released its first-quarter delivery figures. The company supplied 310,000 vehicles throughout the time, which was significantly less than expected.