Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become Twitter's largest shareholder by acquiring 9.2% stakes worth a value of 2.9 bn. On Monday, March 4, 2022, Musk's move was revealed through a filing disclosed by US Securities and Exchange Commission. After this announcement, Twitter's stocks rose 27%.
Musk's Twitter account currently has over 80 Million followers. Musk has made numerous announcements about his business by using Twitter as a platform. However, recently Musk has been critical of Twitter's policies. In March, Musk, in one Twitter poll, asked if Twitter adheres to the principle of free speech. The poll received more than 2mn responses, 70% of which were not in Twitter's favor. On Monday, Musk ran another poll asking if Twitter users want an 'edit' button, a much-awaited feature yet seen on the platform. This tweet was followed by the current CEO, Parag Agrawal, who requested the platform users to vote carefully as he hinted that the consequences of this poll are significant.
Thomas Hayes, the managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC, suspected that the passive stake might soon have an active part. He said, "It does send a message to Twitter ... having a meaningful stake in the company will keep them on their toes, because that passive stake could very quickly become an active stake."
Thomas Hayes, the managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC, suspected that the passive stake might soon have an active part. He said, "It does send a message to Twitter ... having a meaningful stake in the company will keep them on their toes, because that passive stake could very quickly become an active stake."
Whereas Cathy Wood, the founder, CEO and CIO of Ark Invest, suspected that Musk was sending strong signals to the current Twitter CEO. Wood's flagship fund has 10 % of its assets in Tesla, Inc. Recently Ark Invest sold $205 Million in Tesla stock. Wood pointed toward a major upcoming shake-up for Twitter and said, "This could be setting up for another leadership change," in her recent interview with Bloomberg.