The revelation comes immediately after his tweet that he thought “seriously” about building a new social media platform, while questioning Twitter’s commitment to freedom of speech. A report showed that Musk held 73.5 million shares of Twitter, worth about $ 2.9 billion based on a share price of $ 39.31 when the stock closed on Friday. On Monday morning, the price of Twitter shares jumped in the news to more than $ 48, pushing Musk’s share in the process. A prolific Twitter user, Musk has more than 80 million followers since joining the site in 2009 and has used the platform to make numerous announcements, including teasing that he was going to privatize Tesla for $ 420 a share. No such agreement was in the works, which is why securities regulators have since tried to crack down on the billionaire. In October 2018, Musk and Tesla agreed to pay $ 40 million in civil fines and Musk to have his tweets approved by a corporate lawyer because of this epic. But his lawyers are now fighting to break up the deal. Last month, Musk asked U.S. District Court Judge Allison Nathan to annul the settlement agreement. His lawyer, Alex Spiro, said the SEC had used the court agreement “to infringe on Mr Musk’s First Amendment rights and to impose ex ante restrictions on his speech”. As part of this legal battle, the SEC has revealed that it is also investigating a tweet from Musk last November asking his fans if he should sell a 10 percent stake in Tesla to pay his taxes.
Questions about the future of Twitter
Musk’s minority stake in Twitter is already raising questions about whether to buy more from the company or push for change. “We would expect this passive stake as just the beginning of wider discussions with Twitter’s board that could eventually lead to an active stake and a potentially more aggressive Twitter ownership,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note. While news of the deal sent the company’s value soaring, some analysts say the move could be more of a nuisance than it’s worth to Twitter. The company was targeted by Elliot Management Corp. activists. last year because they did not like the fact that Jack Dorsey was the CEO of Twitter and the payment company Square. Shareholders argued that one person could not do all two jobs at the same time and that Twitter suffered because of it. Elliot Management’s seemingly won this race when Dorsey resigned as Twitter CEO last year. The news that Musk is now taking a stake in the company could cause similar headaches, especially if he tries to buy the whole company or push for change there. “While we do not expect the company to become privately owned in the short term, this could be a challenge for new CEO Parag Agrawal, who has focused on new products to help generate revenue,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh. “Musk’s proposals could be in opposition to activists Elliott and Silver Lake, who focus more on improving operations and free cash flow.”
