Elon Musk Takes 9.2% Stake in Twitter

Tesla CEO Elon Musk now owns 73.5 million shares of Twitter, representing a 9.2% stake in the company, according a 13G regulatory filing published this morning. Based on Friday's closing price, the stake is worth around $2.89 billion. Today, Twitter's stock skyrocketed up around 22% on the news.

Musk has been critical of Twitter in the past, stating that "Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy" and polling his followers with the question, "Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?".

The poll results found that around 70% of users believed Twitter did not adhere to the principles of free speech.




Following the poll, Musk asked users if they thought a new platform was needed.

Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?
Is a new platform needed?

Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives believes that Musk's passive stake in Twitter is just the start of what could lead to a more aggressive ownership role.


"it looks like Elon has his eyes laser set on Twitter and we would expect this passive 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. We will be following Musk's comments/future regulatory filings closely to see if Musk ultimately pursues further conversations with the Twitter board and/or goes to an active stake and above the key 10% threshold. For Tesla purposes, we view this move as Musk just further building out his tentacles and we are not worried in any way around Musk "taking his eye off the ball" with Tesla/SpaceX."

Wedbush maintains an outperform rating on the stock. Please download the iClarified app or follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and RSS for updates.