LONDON: Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla co-founder, has purchased a $2.9 billion stake in Twitter, it emerged on Monday. His 9.2 percent stake makes him the social media platform’s largest shareholder
Shares in Twitter rose by as much as 26 percent in pre-market trading on the news, adding more than $8 billion to its $31.5 billion market valuation prior to Musk’s purchase being made public. As a result of the increase, Musk’s shares are now worth about $3.6 billion.
According to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, Musk bought 73,486,938 shares in Twitter on March 14.
Musk, a prolific user of Twitter, has been critical of the platform and its policies lately, questioning whether the company is undermining democracy by failing to support and encourage the principles of free speech.
Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.
What should be done?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
In late March, he polled his more than 80 million followers on the subject, asking: “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?”
He then posed the question: “Is a new platform needed?”
