Tesla CEO Elon Musk is taking a 9.2% stake in Twitter. Musk purchased approximately 73.5 million shares, according to a regulatory filing on Monday. Musk's stake in Twitter is considered a passive investment, which means Musk is a long-term investor that's looking to minimise his buying and selling of the shares. However, Musk has been raising questions about the ability to communicate freely on Twitter, tweeting last month about free speech and the social media platform and industry analysts were skeptical about the mercurial CEO remaining on the sidelines anywhere.
"We would expect this passive stake to be just the beginning of broader conversations with the Twitter board/management that could eventually lead to an active stake and a potentially more aggressive ownership role of Twitter," WedBush Securities' Dan Ives wrote in a client note early Monday.
Twitter's stock rose more than 25% before the market opened on Monday, while Tesla's stock rose slightly. Musk, in addition to raising concerns about free speech on Twitter, stated in a separate tweet that he is "giving serious thought" to creating a new social media platform.
Musk has had run-ins with regulators over his use of Twitter. Musk asked a federal judge early last month to overturn a securities regulators' subpoena and to overturn a 2018 court agreement that required Musk to have someone pre-approve his Twitter posts. US securities regulators said they had the legal authority to subpoena Tesla and Musk about his tweets, and that Musk's attempt to overturn a 2018 court agreement requiring his tweets to be pre-approved is invalid.
Musk's disclosure about his stake in Twitter shares comes just two days after Tesla Inc. reported disappointing first-quarter production figures. While the company delivered 310,000 vehicles during the period, this was slightly lower than expected.
Musk is widely regarded as one of Twitter's most active users. With over 80 million followers, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has effectively built his company's online presence through his tweets. Tesla, for example, does not rely on traditional advertising, but Musk's frequent presence on the social media platform has allowed the electric vehicle manufacturer to become one of the market's most well-known electric car manufacturers. The same can be said for SpaceX, which has rekindled interest in space exploration among the social media generation.
Musk's 13G filing with the SEC is available here.