Buying 9.2 Percent Of Twitter Shares, Elon Musk Plans To Change The Policy!

JAKARTA - Billionaire Elon Musk has reportedly bought 9.2 percent of Twitter's shares. This number makes him the largest shareholder in the social media company.

The news sent Twitter shares soaring 22 percent in early trading. Musk did not disclose the purpose of the purchase, but his shares were worth $2.9 billion at Friday's close of trading, and $3.5 billion after Monday's surge.

Musk himself has often been a critic of Twitter's policies lately, and he even came up with the idea of creating his own social media platform, which might rival his friend, Jack Dorsey.

Musk has publicly questioned Twitter's approach to free speech through a poll conducted on his Twitter account on March 25.

“Freedom of speech is essential for democracy to function. Are you sure Twitter strictly adheres to these principles?” Musk asked.

Musk also said: "The consequences of this poll are going to be important."

"Given that Twitter functions as a de facto public city square, failing to adhere to the principles of free speech is fundamentally undermining democracy," Musk tweeted the following day.

Citing CNN International, Tuesday, April 5, it seems that this comment came after Musk bought Twitter shares on March 14, so Musk's idea of creating a new social media is likely after his decision.

According to US law, whenever investors buy a company's stock of 5 percent or more, they must disclose the purchase in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Even if a less than 10 percent stake in a company is considered passive in Wall Street's eyes, it could signal Musk's efforts to take a more active role in running Twitter.

"I think he intends to get active and force change on Twitter. This is an opportunity for the Twitter board and management team to start a discussion," said Wedbush Securities technology analyst Dan Ives.

Ives added that if Musk doesn't try to change the way Twitter operates, his big buyout could prompt some other investors to take a stake in the company. "One way or another, he's going to change the direction of Twitter," Ives said.

According to Ives, it might not be realistic for Musk or anyone else to try to build a new competing platform from scratch. So it made more sense for him to try to change practices on Twitter itself.

For your information, Musk has 80 million followers on Twitter, far more than any other CEO. And he often tweets about Tesla and SpaceX developments.