Twitter’s share price jumped 27% on Monday, closing at $49.97 at market close, after the company disclosed that Elon Musk had become its biggest shareholder.
Wall Street seems to be embracing news of Musk’s investment, with shares of Twitter jumping to their highest point since last November. According to a filing Monday with the Securities Exchange Commission, the Tesla and SpaceX boss has gobbled up a 9.2% stake in Twitter — which was worth $2.9 billion at the close of trading on Friday.
Given the stock’s surge on Monday, Musk’s stake is now worth $3.84 billion — suggesting that he’s already seen nearly $1 billion in gains on his investment.
Musk’s investment follows his public criticism of the platform’s content moderation policies. Last month, he even suggested that he might create his own social network. Although details are short on Musk’s exact plans for Twitter, he has been vocal about the platform failing to uphold its free speech policies.
On March 25, Musk tweeted: “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?” More than 70% of some 2 million users on Twitter responded, “No.”
Musk has been critical of Twitter in the past, and of the SEC after he tweeted in 2018 about having secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share. He later settled by stepping down as chairman of the company and remaining its CEO. Last year, Parag Agrwal took over as Twitter’s CEO from founder Jack Dorsey.
