Tesla CEO and consistent thorn in the left's side Elon Musk opened a new front in his criticism of Silicon Valley tech giants on Monday morning when he disclosed he acquired a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter in mid-March, meaning Musk is now the company's biggest shareholder.
Musk's acquisition of Twitter stock follows a recent poll from the tech entrepreneur questioning Twitter's commitment to free expression — a question asked with the caveat that "the consequences of this poll will be important."
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
Following his unofficial survey, Musk questioned whether a new platform was needed. It seems Musk concluded that — rather than starting his own company — he'd crash Twitter's party.
Is a new platform needed?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2022
And while Twitter leadership might be worried about their new biggest shareholder, they should be happy to see that their company's shares were up more than 25 percent on the news that Musk snapped up nearly $3 billion worth of stock, as Bloomberg reported.
Elon Musk's 9.2% stake in Twitter is worth about $2.89 billion, based on Friday's market close https://t.co/uJnUIspoa5 pic.twitter.com/cyiQRYD2Qq
— Bloomberg (@business) April 4, 2022
BREAKING: Twitter shares jump in pre-market trading after Elon Musk discloses 9.2% passive stake https://t.co/VdGxtgMQ7j pic.twitter.com/e6XNOSc527
— Bloomberg Markets (@markets) April 4, 2022
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As Bloomberg points out, Musk's acquisition will be "yet another major test for new Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who replaced Jack Dorsey after he unexpectedly resigned in November" and who was depicted as Joseph Stalin in a meme tweeted by Musk when the leadership change was announced.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 1, 2021
And while it's as-yet unclear what Musk's plans are with his newfound power within Twitter, it will be interesting to see if Twitter's censors continue to give Musk trouble for his tweeting given he's now the company's largest shareholder. Musk's stock has already, however, made him "about $1.1 billion," according Bloomberg.
If @elonmusk can clean up Twitter and stop online censorship, I’m all for him taking over the whole damn thing.
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) April 4, 2022
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