The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, purchased nine percent of the social media platform, over four times of what its founder Jack Dorsey currently holds.
According to a filing which was revealed last Monday, Musk made a purchase of exactly 73,486,938 Twitter shares on March 14. This revelation saw a sharp rise in the company’s stock price by 30 percent, while ever since Musk became Twitter’s major shareholder, the price has risen to more than half its original price (50 percent.)
Elon Musk had previously questioned Twitter’s policies regarding free speech, creating a poll that was pinned on his profile which asked his followers if they believed that the platformed “adhered to the principle” of a functioning democracy.
Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.
Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
The trillionaire is himself a common user of the platform, having well over 80 million followers and connecting with them quite often.
This new acquisition, based on Musk’s previous questioning of Twitter’s methods on regulating its users, could lead to a series of changes on the platform which may soon be implemented. What Musk plans to make out of this investment remains to be seen as the now major shareholder can choose to turn the platform into whatever he wishes.
Some analysts say that the Tesla owner may have seen a potential for greater development in Twitter while others state that the only motive behind his actions was so that he could simply act without the social media platform’s regulators trying to keep him walking on eggshells.
It was also pointed out that while Musk did buy out a large number of shares, that only amounts to a small amount of his own personal wealth and a full-on buy-out shouldn’t be ruled out.
Jack Dorsey, one of the people who created Twitter, gave up on his position as chief executive last November and now owns only a fourth of the shares that Musk does.
