Twitter up 25 percent after Elon Musk becomes major shareholder

Excitement at the American stock exchange this Monday morning, even before it officially opened. Twitter shares shot up more than 25 percent in indicative pre-market trading after an announcement stating Elon Musk is buying a stake of over 9 percent stake in the social media company.

Elon Musk, the CEO of e-car maker Tesla, has taken a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter. After that was announced on Monday, the share of the social media company went up by 25 percent in pre-market trading, to $49.21 (£37.26). Musk’s stake is worth $2.8 billion, based on Friday’s closing price.

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Influential tweeter

With 80 million followers, Elon Musk himself is one of the most influential tweeters. He has already set the prices of various cryptocurrencies in motion several times via the platform. He also used the medium to organize a vote on his Tesla shares.

Several tweets have got him into trouble in the past, especially with stock market regulator SEC. As a result of a deal in 2018, Musk is only allowed to tweet about Tesla to a limited extent. Musk is trying to get rid of that deal.

Interestingly, a week ago, the CEO of Tesla organized a survey on Twitter questioning whether the social media company adheres to the principle of free speech; ‘After all, that is the basis of democracy.’ He then asked his followers whether he should build his own platform.