Elon Musk now holds four times Dorsey's stake in Twitter
What's the story
Tesla and SpaceX founder, Elon Musk, in a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has disclosed he holds a 9.2% stake in the microblogging platform Twitter. Musk, a prolific Twitter user himself, now owns 73,486,938 shares of the company in his personal capacity. Twitter shares have jumped 25.8% to $49.48 in pre-market trading as soon as the word got out.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Musk is known to be a strong proponent of free speech and this move seems hardly surprising. His tweets about Tesla have landed him in a soup on many occasions, triggering investors as well as the US government. The billionaire is currently trying to end the oversight of his tweets by the SEC, which he claims is trying to trample his free speech rights.
Passive stake
Musk has invested around $3bn in Twitter
Based on Twitter's closing price on Friday, Musk's stake in the popular social media platform is worth $2.89 billion. He is one of the largest shareholders of Twitter. With a 9.2% stake, he has four times more equity than Twitter founder Jack Dorsey who currently owns around 2.25% of the company. Notably, Musk is also a huge critic of the social media platform.
Views
'Twitter flouting free speech principles'
The Tesla top boss recently claimed that Twitter is not adhering to the principles of free speech, thus undermining democracy. Musk has hailed the importance of free speech in a "functioning democracy" and raised apprehensions about Twitter's intentions. He also recently tweeted that he was thinking about creating a new social media platform as Twitter is failing in its role.
Twitter Post
Here is a poll held by Musk last month
Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?
Legal
Tesla-related tweets are subject to government oversight
To recall, in 2018, Musk inked a settlement pact with the SEC. It stated the regulatory body will obtain funds from him and give them to investors who lost money buying Tesla shares after he claimed on Twitter that he was thinking about taking the company public. The SEC claims Tesla-related will be subject to a government investigation even if the agreement is nixed.