These are certainly interesting times we live in. After recently criticizing Twitter’s management, particularly the platform’s move away from free & open speech in the app, the billionaire owner of Tesla Elon Musk had just purchased 73.5 Twitter shares. Close to $3 billion, Elon just bought himself to be Twitter’s largest shareholder.

Tesla x Twitter

Musk effectively now owns 9.2% of the company, and while his stake is ‘passive’ (i.e no board seat), speculations arise that he might make a bigger move in the future to take more active control of the company. A Twitter owned and led by Elon Musk, what would that mean?

For brief context, Musk recently criticized Twitter for its recent actions that somewhat restrict free speech. Musk shared this poll last month with his followers. 80 million followers – not bad Mr. Musk. He also noted that “the consequences of this poll will be important”, without qualifying said remarks.

From this, Musk then questioned the present role Twitter is playing in democracy, raising the possibility of creating his own social network. Musk has always had a sort of complicated relationship with Twitter, with his off-the-cuff Tweets often landing him in hot water with SEC and other regulatory authorities. Musk also has a history of sharing seemingly random thoughts and memes, sometimes leading to confusion and even concern about his mental state, given his public status and all. The mad lad even challenged Putin to physical combat for the fate of Ukraine – now that’d be the fight of the millennium.

Musk also seems to take pleasure in critiquing various government policies, including immigration reforms, COVID response measures, and tax proposals. Given his current view on the platform, it’s likely that Musk will continue with such comments. At one point, Musk did stipulate that if Twitter were to allow more misinformation and take a step back in curbing concerning movements and trends, would it be a good thing?

On this front, Twitter’s most notable action came when it banned former US President Donald Trump from sharing comments that could incite violence. Even on this, Musk had something to say. Clearly, Musk has iffies with how perceived tech censorship is going, either way, shoveling a $3 billion investment is more than just imposing your will on your favorite social media platform, right?

The Wrap

Of course, $3 billion isn’t a scratch on Musk’s net worth, but from a business perspective, you can bet that he’s taking an angle here, potentially creating a new pathway to re-igniting Twitter’s growth and maximizing that investment. Twitter was already under the pressure imposed by Elliot Management Group when it bought up Twitter Shares in 2020, forcing the entire Twitter management to up its game.

Fast forward, Musk likely sees potential beyond this, meaning to help stimulate Twitter growth even further, making it more of a significant part of the social media landscape. Or maybe Musk is just looking to boost Twitter share prices through his involvement. Twitter shares did rise by more than 28% after his stake was revealed. This is Elon we’re talking about, so we can never really tell what his end goal is.

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Sources

https://bit.ly/3KkF5ms