Elon Musk Just Became The Largest Shareholder Of Twitter---What Happens Now?

Elon Musk made massive headlines that swept through the world of tech lately, as he bought $3 billion worth of Twitter shares, making him the largest shareholder of the social media powerhouse at 9.2%. With this, many people are on the fence as to what the Tesla CEO plans to do with his new investment.

(Photo : ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk uses his mobile device as he sits in the car arriving to the construction site for the new plant, the so-called "Giga Factory", of US electric carmaker Tesla in Gruenheide near Berlin, northeastern Germany. - The site still has only provisional construction permits, but Tesla has been authorised by local officials to begin work at its own risk.

An article on Axios, for one, believes that this purchase is indicative of Musk's desire to change the platform's policies to his liking following his constant criticism of it. The SpaceX founder has chastised Twitter for its apparent "failure" to adhere to principles of free speech, while also considering the social media platform as the world's "de facto public town square."

Soon after tweeting that, the multi-billionaire then asked his over 80 million followers this:

These words from Musk were published late last month, and now it feels like it's gone full circle-albeit with a few compromises. He himself mulled on creating his own social media platform last March 28th, saying he is in "serious thought." Once again, the main reason was his grievances against Twitter, whose algorithm he claims has a so-called "de facto bias" affecting public discourse on the platform:

'No Intentions To Agitate'

But even if there are fears that Musk could probably try to shape Twitter to his own liking, it might not happen at all. That's because in a certain filing to the US SEC, it was revealed that the multi-billionaire said he had no intentions to "agitate" as a shareholder.

What this could mean is that he doesn't plan to throw his new financial weight around the company, and will probably still focus on far bigger ventures-i.e. SpaceX and Tesla-to achieve his other goals.

Read Also: US Regulators Want Elon Musk's Tweets Monitored, Threatens to File a Subpoena

This makes sense considering his now 9.2% stake is still not a majority stake. As per Investopedia, the only time a shareholder wields considerable power of the company's direction is if he/she holds at least a 50% stake in it. Anybody who owns that much of a company's stocks can dictate its direction through their voting power, especially if the aforementioned shareholder also owns voting shares.

What's Happening Over At Twitter

As a result of Musk's purchase, Twitter's share price closed at a 27% increase-something that's quite expected if someone as high-profile as him does things like this. According to CNBC, the Tesla CEO's purchase is classified as a passive stake, which further reinforces his apparent lack of desire to not exert his influence over the company's dealings.

It's not just that, of course. Current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal will now have to wrangle the antics of one of the world's richest men, which Forbes says could still make sweeping demands despite his passive stake. For one, Agrawal perhaps has to deal with the shadow of Elliott Holdings, who bought a stake in the company and shook it up by asking founder Jack Dorsey to leave.

Eventually, both Twitter and Elliott settled. But this could not be similar with Pagrawal and Musk, who once tweeted a meme that didn't paint the newly installed CEO in a positive light. The aforementioned meme was that of Agrawal's face put on the body of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, with the face of Jack Dorsey on another person's body beside him:

As you can see, Dorsey's "character" in the image was shown being thrown into the water. For the unaware, Musk and the founder/former CEO of Twitter are close friends.

It remains to be seen whether this "war" of Twitter posts will indicate a major shakeup. But one thing is for certain: Elon's got his hands on a new, extremely delicious pie.

This is a developing story.

Related Article: Elon Musk Vs. SEC: Billionaire Compares Himself To Eminem as Pre-Approval Twitter Post Issue Continues

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Written by RJ Pierce