Elon Musk has just become the largest shareholder of Twitter, immediately pocketing $ 1.1 billion
The Financial Times reported that just two weeks ago, Elon Musk conducted a survey on the social network Twitter. He wrote:
Freedom of speech is essential in a democracy. Do you think Twitter is strictly following this principle? There are 2 options below for survey participants: Yes or No.
Under the survey, Elon Musk also earnestly urged his followers that: The results of this survey are very important. Please vote carefully.
As a result, there were over 2 million votes, of which, 70.4% chose No and only 29.6% chose Yes.
And according to the latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk currently owns 9.2% of Twitter shares, making him the largest shareholder of this social network. Musk’s stake is even more than four times that of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s 2.25%.
Twitter shares jumped 26% after the news was revealed. It was Twitter’s biggest single-day gain in more than four years. Musk’s stake is worth about $2.89 billion, based on Friday’s closing market price.
Musk is one of the most popular figures on Twitter, and he often gets into trouble on the platform. Tesla’s CEO is currently looking to get out of a 2018 settlement with the SEC that forced him to comply with controls related to postings about Tesla.
Having Musk become the largest shareholder will be another big test for Twitter’s new CEO, Parag Agrawal, who replaced Jack Dorsey after his surprise resignation in November. Agrawal pledged to increase Increased accountability, faster decision making, and improved product execution. The company has ambitious growth goals that include increasing annual revenue to $7.5 billion and reaching 315 million daily users by the end of 2023.
Musk posted a cryptic meme in December after Twitter announced that Agrawal would take over as CEO of Twitter from Dorsey.
“It appears Musk has taken aim at Twitter,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, adding that the stakes could lead to “a more active ownership role.”
Twitter is particularly vulnerable to outside pressure because unlike Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Snap, the company’s founders don’t have special voting control over the company’s future. The social network has just recovered from pressure from investors like Elliot Management that began in 2020, prompting Dorsey, who holds the post of Twitter CEO, to leave.
It’s unclear what Musk is planning with his stake in Twitter. The filing with the SEC suggests that the date of the incident could be March 14. The type of form used also indicates that the investor is not seeking to gain control of the company or influence who controls it.
If the timeline for buying Twitter stock is correct, Musk – the world’s richest person according to Bloomberg statistics may have seen his fortune increase by about $ 1.1 billion since mid-March, based on the increase in price. shares of Twitter in early trading on Monday.
Twitter is under pressure to move faster in building new products. The company has set ambitious user and revenue growth targets to convince skeptical investors that it is serious about expanding its business. Although Twitter has been growing steadily for years, its stock lags behind its peers.
Musk has criticized Twitter’s recent development of profile photos linked to non-fungible tokens, saying that the social media company had the wrong priorities.
Source: Bloomberg, Financial Times
By Business and Marketing
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