According to a regulatory filing Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought a 9.2 percent interest in Twitter, totaling 73.5 million shares.
Musk’s Twitter ownership is classified as a passive investment, implying that he is a long-term investor who wants to keep his buying and selling to a minimum.
However, in recent weeks, Musk has raised concerns on Twitter about free speech and whether or not failing to adhere to its basic principles threatens democracy.
He’s also considered creating his own social media network, and industry watchers doubted that the unpredictable CEO would stay out of the spotlight for long.
“We would anticipate this passive stake to be the beginning of broader conversations with the Twitter board/management that might eventually lead to an active stake and a potential more aggressive ownership role for Twitter,” Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives said in a client note early Monday.
Before the opening bell on Monday, Twitter’s stock jumped 25%.
Musk has regularly clashed with finance regulators over his usage of Twitter and has stated that he is “really considering” building an alternative social media network.
Musk urged a federal judge early last month to overturn a securities regulators’ subpoena and a 2018 court deal that required Musk to have someone pre-approve his Twitter posts. US securities authorities said they had the jurisdiction to subpoena Tesla and Musk over his tweets, and that Musk’s attempt to overturn a 2018 court order requiring pre-approval of his tweets was invalid.
Musk’s disclosure about his Twitter stock comes just two days after Tesla Inc. reported disappointing first-quarter manufacturing figures. The company supplied 310,000 vehicles throughout the time, which was significantly less than expected.
