Elon Musk now owns a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him one of its largest shareholders.
Musk owns approximately 73.5 million shares in the social media platform – a stake worth $2.9 billion.
The news triggered a 23% rise in Twitter’s share price.
Last month the Tesla boss took to Twitter to ask his more than 80 million followers whether they believed the social media platform upholds the principle of free speech:
‘Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?’
He followed this up with a tweet that read: ‘The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.’
Over 2 million users participated in the poll, with 70% answering ‘no’.
Musk’s stake in Twitter is passive – but last month’s tweets and the news of his newly acquired stake have left many speculating about his intentions regarding the platform.
On Monday, Daniel Ives, Managing Director of Wedbush Securities, provided some insight, tweeting: ‘This morning Elon Musk revealed he now owns a 9.2% passive stake in Twitter. We would expect this passive stake as just the start of broader conversations with the Twitter board/management that could ultimately lead to an active stake; more aggressive ownership role of Twitter.’