Twitter saw its action take off by nearly 25% on Monday in electronic exchanges preceding the opening of Wall Street, after a major stake in the social network by the boss of Tesla.
According to a document filed with the US stock market regulator, the SEC, Mr Musk, who is the richest man on the planet, acquired nearly 73.5 million shares of Twitter common stock, or 9.2% of the stock market value of the company.
Based on Friday’s closing price of the company’s stock, the South African-born billionaire’s investment is nearly $2.9 billion.
As of 6:45 a.m. EDT, Twitter stock was trading at $48.75 (+24.01%).
Mr. Musk speaks very frequently on this social network, where he has just over 80 million subscribers.
His announcements on Twitter frequently arouse controversy.
In the summer of 2018, he notably published a tweet where he claimed to have the appropriate funding to withdraw Tesla from the New York Stock Exchange, without providing proof.
After another misguided tweet in early 2019, he agreed to have his posts directly related to the electric vehicle maker’s business pre-cleared by the SEC.
The leader had also given up his position as chairman of the board of directors of Tesla.
At the beginning of March, however, Mr. Musk asked a New York judge to overturn the settlement he made with the stock market constable over his tweets, claiming through his lawyer that the SEC seeks to “harass Tesla and silence Mr. Musk”.