Elon Musk Buys 9.2% Twitter Stake Worth $2.9B 

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has purchased a 9.2% stake in Twitter, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission 13G filing. Earlier this year, the billionaire blasted the micro-blogging site for compromising free speech, and he hinted that he might launch his own social network.

Interestingly, the share prices of Twitter have witnessed a steep climb of over 25% after reports of Musk buying Twitter stakes surfaced. According to CNBC, the tech mogul owns 7,34,86,938 shares which amount to over $2.89 billion and would increase with the increment in Twitter’s share price. What’s more, is that Musk has now become the biggest outside shareholder in the company.

Musk’s ownership of Twitter is a surprise, given how he has questioned the site’s free speech policies. In a recent Twitter poll, he asked users whether Twitter adheres to the principles of free expression and questioned whether a new platform is needed. Tesla’s boss, after reading the poll’s results, asked “What should be done” and stated, “Free speech is an essential component of democracy.”

When one of Musk’s followers asked if he was considering launching his own social media platform where free speech is a priority and there is no place for propaganda, Musk replied that he was looking into it seriously. Musk’s move can also be considered an acceptance of the idea of his followers who suggested he acquire Twitter or build his own.

Musk has been a staunch advocate for freedom of speech, an example of which was when he refused to block Russian media houses on the Starlink satellite communication system citing freedom of expression.

Nevertheless, Musk has been known in the past to believe that the craze for social media, particularly from a research and development point of view, is something suboptimal, and that solving more traditional issues like low-cost space travel, colonising space, building vast networks of underground transport networks, electric cars, power generation and storage, and global internet connectivity would be far more worthwhile.