Tesla CEO Elon Musk invested about $3 billion to acquire a 9.2% stake in Twitter, CNBC reported on the 4th (local time).
When the news came out, Twitter’s stock price soared to 28% in pre-opening trading and closed 27% in the regular market.
On the New York Stock Exchange, Twitter jumped 27.12% from the previous trading day to $49.97. With this, Twitter’s market capitalization exceeded $40 billion.
CNBC said Musk became the largest shareholder as he secured a 9.2% stake in Twitter.
Earlier, Musk suggested that Twitter may create another social media, saying it violates freedom of speech.
Musk argued on the 27th of last month, “Considering that Twitter is actually becoming a place of public opinion, democracy will be fundamentally damaged if we fail to adhere to the principle of freedom of speech.”
Prior to this, he conducted a survey on Twitter on the 25th of last month on whether it strictly complies with the principle of freedom of speech. At that time, 70.4% of the survey respondents said no.
When asked if he was going to create a social media platform that prioritized freedom of speech for Twitter users at the time, he replied, “I’m seriously thinking about it.”
Prior to this, he conducted a survey late last year asking if he agreed to sell Tesla’s 10 percent stake. With a lot of approval, Musk had actually sold a 10% stake in Tesla.
Experts say he seems to be trying to change Twitter’s practice by acquiring a large stake in Twitter before he creates his own SNS.
Daniel Ives, a Tesla analyst at Wedbush, a securities firm, said, “Musk seems to be trying to acquire and merge Twitter,” adding, “He is expected to actively participate in Twitter’s management.”
Musk’s personal wealth is $273 billion as of July 4, far more than Twitter’s market capitalization of $40 billion.
Experts believe that it is not too late to create a new SNS if Musk tries to acquire Twitter once it is not possible.