Elon Musk’s decision to snap up a 9.2 percent stake in his favorite social media platform, Twitter, is already paying off after the company’s share price skyrocketed more than 27% on the news Monday – pushing the already ultra-wealthy Musk an additional 1.2 billion, according to Bloomberg.
The March 14 acquisition, made public Monday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, creates Musk Twitter’s largest shareholder – but questions remain about how much power the minority stake will provide the Tesla CEO over Twitter’s day-to-day decision making.
In the past, he has charged the forum for stifling free speech and been criticized for his Twitter posts by controllers.
Minority stake or not, some professionals expect Musk to use his block of shares to control the company towards an open model with fewer range moderation actions.
“Specifically, Musk could seek to exploit the platform’s openness and how it controls range or push to support in the subscription model additional aggressively,” Ali Mogharabi, an judge for financial assistance firm Morningstar, said in an investors report on Monday.
Republican lawmakers praise Musk for defending a ‘free lesson’ following the announcement.
Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas), who co-founded the Freedom From Big Tech Caucus, praised Musk but voiced his buy was a sign of the social media giant’s power.’
‘The fact that the world’s wealthiest man chose to buy Twitter outright rather than develop a new medium shows Twitter’s monopoly power,’ Gooden told DailyMail.com.
‘I’m glad Elon Musk is trekking up to protect free speech, but Congress must work to put the suspension of big tech in their place.’
Numerous GOP lawmakers have charged Twitter with ‘censorship,’ including ‘shadow banning,’ which allegedly restricts a user’s space without their knowledge or appearance to do so.
Republican Study Committee Chair Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) published on Monday, ‘If [Elon Musk] can clean up Twitter and stop online censorship. I’m all for him bringing over the whole damn thing.’
Another Trump ally, retired Treasury Department official Monica Crowley, sounded off.
Anger at the platform dribbled over when it permanently stopped Donald Trump’s account before last year following the January 6 episode at the US Capitol. Some Republicans now wish Musk would have enough sway to call the ex-president back on.
‘Now that [Elon Musk] is Twitter’s most extensive shareholder, it’s period to lift the political censorship. Oh… and BRING BACK TRUMP!’ direct pro-Trump Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) wrote on the site.
Former Trump Treasury Department officer Monica Crowley said, ‘He should require the end of political censorship, company-wide reform, and the reinstatement of President Trump.’
Musk, who has represented himself as a political moderate, has butted heads with the Biden management and has not shied away from attacking and ridiculing President Joe Biden.
Rep. Lance Gooden (left) told DailyMail.com: ‘I’m glad Elon Musk is trekking up to protect free address, but Congress must act to put the rest of big tech in their place’
During her Monday press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki asked if the billionaire’s yore with Biden would cause the administration to recalibrate its digital strategy, which has relied heavily on Twitter.
‘I expect we will resume using Twitter, as you all will as well, I would hope,’ Psaki answered while dipping to comment on Musk’s ownership specifically.
The world’s richest man, worth an assessed $ 273 billion, bought almost 73.5 million shares, a document pointed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows.
It tells the Tesla co-founder has more than quadrupled the shares of Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey, who owns 2.25 percent.
His passive stake in the company is valued at up to $ 2.9 billion based on the stock’s Friday close, and the estimated deal cost was $ 2.4 billion, according to the wares price on March 14 when he bought the shares.
The news started Twitter’s stock to soar by more than 26 percent in pre-market trade before Wall Street opened on Monday, meaning his shares are now worth around $3.6billion, earning him an interested $1.2billion in three weeks.
The world’s richest man bought nearly 73.5 million shares, a document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission shows.
Shares of different social media firms, including Meta Media and Snapchat owner Snap Inc, were also trading higher.
Musk’s stake in Twitter is considered a passive investment, which means he is a long-term investor peeking to underestimate his buying and selling of the shares.
‘We would expect this inactive stake as just the start of broader conversations with the Twitter board/management that could ultimately lead to an active stake and a potential more aggressive ownership role of Twitter,’ Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities wrote in a client note early Monday.
Twitter’s share price has rocketed since Musk’s investment on March 14
Passive investment is a strategy for slowly building wealth by long-term ownership of stocks rather than engaging in frequent trading, which is often accompanied by additional fees and can be more volatile.
Ives also told CNBC: ‘Musk could try to take a more assertive stance here on Twitter.
‘This eventually could lead to some buyout.
‘This creates sense given what Musk has been talking about, at least from a social media viewpoint.’
The Elon Musk Revocable Trust holds the shares, of which he is the sole trustee.
On the exact day of filing the SEC document, Musk challenged Vladimir Putin to a fight on Twitter and posted a meme about supporting current trends.
The mogul has been growing questions about the ability to communicate voluntarily on Twitter, tweeting last month about free address and the social media platform.
It represents the Tesla co-founder has more than quadrupled the shares of Twitter’s founder Jack Dorsey (pictured), who owns 2.25 percent.
In 2018, the tech CEO was attacked after reaching a British diver who helped save a group of Thai boys attached in a cave, a ‘pedo.’
His Twitter posting has led to stock manipulation charges, regularly communicating online polls and information about his companies.
