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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken a big stake in social media company Twitter, a regulatory filing released Monday showed.
According to the 13G filing, Musk has accumulated 73,486,938 shares of Twitter, representing a 9.2% (based on 800,641,166 shares of Common Stock outstanding). The stake is worth nearly $2.9 billion, based on Friday’s closing price.
The filing comes about ten days after Musk tweeted that the social media company is “failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.” He asks his audience of more than 80 million people: “What should be done?”Â
Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.
What should be done? https://t.co/aPS9ycji37
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2022
He also asks his followers, on the same day, “Is a new platform needed?”
And it comes two days after founder Jack Dorsey partially blames himself for the state of the internet today, admitting that “centralizing discovery and identity into corporations really damaged the internet.”
After giving some “serious thought” to creating a new social media platform, Musk has decided it was easier to buy an existing one to reform the too-woke platform.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” this morning that the billionaire “could try to take a more aggressive stance here on Twitter,” adding “this could eventually lead to some sort of buyout.”
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.