Elon Musk has made it to the headlines again, and this time, it’s not his tweets but the fact that Elon Musk now owns Twitter, well, 9.2% of it. A regulatory filing reveals Musk has invested about $2.89 billion in Twitter. Twitter’s shares rose by 26% as soon as Musk’s stake in Twitter got confirmed.
Elon had been posting about democracy, free speech and social media lately. One of his recent tweets even asked followers if a new platform was needed. The drama escalated when Musk conducted a Twitter poll asking whether the platform was adhering to free speech.
With 9% stake in the platform now, Musk’s criticism of Twitter can now hold Twitter accountable. Bloomberg also correctly points out that this will be a challenge for Parag Agrawal, who recently took over as CEO. However, there’s much more at stake than Elon Musk on Twitter.
Elon Musk’s Twitter: What’s Next?
As of now, the SEC is Elon Musk’s Twitter nanny. The billionaire pulled off a stunt tweet in 2018 which cost him his Chair at Tesla. Musk was also made to pay $20 million in fines because of the same tweet. Finally, he still has to get his tweets approved by the SEC before sending them out.
Musk has been trying to wiggle his way out of this 2018 deal with the SEC. However, we don’t see how it could affect the deal, but it is a big development that Musk owns a social media platform now. He has been vocal about his criticism for the big tech, so it remains to be seen if he can change how things work.
Although we must note that a 9.2% stake in Twitter doesn’t give Musk enough firepower to strong arm the platform, but it should count for something. Also, this stake makes him the single largest stakeholder in Twitter.
So what could be next? An increased character limit for a tweet? High tweet detectors? An ‘Edit’ button? Who knows? With Elon Musk buying stakes in Twitter, our current guess is a bag full of cats. It is partially because we can expect him to make some changes to the platform, and partially because Musk is resourceful enough to start his own new social media.
What do you think about this development? Do let us know in the comments!
