Businessman Elon Musk invests $2.9 billion in Twitter
American businessman Elon Musk, on December 1, 2020 in Berlin for the Axel Springer Media Awards ceremony.
AP - Britta Pedersen
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
The billionaire, boss of Tesla and SpaceX, has invested nearly 2.9 billion dollars in the social network, which has increased the title Twitter by about 20% on the stock market.
Big user of Twitter, Elon Musk becomes the biggest investor in the network.
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Elon Musk tweets easily.
The businessman has also made a habit of asking their opinion of his 80 million subscribers on the social network.
He posted two polls last March, one asking if they thought Twitter's algorithm should be open source and another asking if they thought the company respected free speech. .
The voters had very largely answered "yes
in the first survey and "no
to the second.
Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.
Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
Its ultimate goal with this takeover is still far from clear.
Does he want to control Twitter?
Does he want to influence the group's future strategic decisions?
The richest man on the planet in any case holds 9.2% of the company's stock market value, which makes him the group's largest shareholder, ahead of the Vanguard investment fund and Morgan bank. Stanley, according to data from Bloomberg.
Elon Musk specifies that his stake, less than 10% of the ordinary shares, is passive, that is to say that he does not intend to influence the major strategic decisions of the company.
But this entry into the capital could be the prelude to a more active role within the company, believe some experts.
"
We expect this passive participation to mark the beginning of deeper discussions with Twitter's management and board, which may lead to active participation and potentially more aggressive ownership
," Dan said in a note. Ives of Westbush Securities.
Critical
Elon Musk has been very critical of Twitter in the past and is part of the movement of distrust that reigns on the network.
A few weeks ago, he explained in a tweet that “
Twitter's failure to adhere to the principles of free speech fundamentally undermines democracy
.
“
Is a new platform needed?
“, he had questioned.
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
Twitter is regularly accused of censorship by many conservative voices in the United States, especially since the suspension of Donald Trump's account last year.
Like Facebook and YouTube, the blue bird network believes that the former president encouraged his supporters to violence before the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In response to his ouster, Donald Trump launched his own platform, Truth Social, in February.
And unlike the title Twitter which is doing well,
Digital World Acquisition Corp,
the company linked to the new social network of former American President Donald Trump, fell more than 12% in the first exchanges.
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