Elon Musk is shopping for a 9.2% stake in Twitter value $2.9 billion. The Tesla CEO bought 73.5 million shares, in response to a regulatory submitting Monday.
Musk has been elevating questions concerning the capacity to speak freely on Twitter, tweeting final month about free speech and the social media platform.
"Free speech is crucial to a functioning democracy. Do you imagine Twitter rigorously adheres to this precept?" he tweeted.
In a separate tweet, Musk stated that he was "giving severe thought" to creating a brand new social media platform.
Additionally final month, Musk requested a federal decide to nullify a subpoena from securities regulators and throw out a 2018 court docket settlement during which Musk needed to have somebody pre-approve his posts on Twitter.
Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, thinks Musk might ultimately search to purchase massive piece of Twitter, which might give him extra leverage to push for change on the firm.
"[I]t seems to be like Elon has his eyes laser set on Twitter, and we'd count on this passive stake as simply the beginning of broader conversations with the Twitter board/administration that would in the end result in an energetic stake and a possible extra aggressive possession position of Twitter," he stated in a be aware. "For Tesla functions, we view this transfer as Musk simply additional constructing out his tentacles, and we aren't fearful in any manner round Musk 'taking his eye off the ball' with Tesla/SpaceX."
Twitter's inventory surged 26% in pre-market buying and selling, to $49.50, after the corporate disclosed Musk's stake. The shares have dropped 38% over the past yr.
Musk is the richest particular person on this planet, with a fortune value $273 billion, in response to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.