Elon Musk has bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter, more than four times the 2.25% holding of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. His newly purchased shares now make Musk one of the largest shareholders in the company.

The news saw the company’s shares soar about 25% of the pre-market trading. According to BBC News, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says the Tesla founder bought 73,486,938 Twitter shares on 14 March 2022. The stake is reportedly worth $2.89-billion.

This comes after the notorious business owner asked his followers what they thought about freedom of speech on the platform. Musk apparently asked his followers last month if Twitter adheres to freedom of speech.

When asked if he would consider building or creating a new social media platform Musk said he is “giving serious thought” to it.

According to CNN, Musk asked his followers if he should sell 10% of his stake in Tesla, which according to reports was a breach of an agreement he had with the SEC to consult with other Tesla executives and gain their approval before tweeting about the company.

The company received a subpoena from the SEC because the poll question triggered a stock selloff. Musk thought that was harassment and challenged the subpoena. All of this triggered the discussion about whether there is a need for a new social media platform.

“Musk’s motion to quash is procedurally defective and substantively meritless,” the SEC said.

More than 3.5 million Twitter users voted, with nearly 58% voting in favour of the share sale that lead to Musk selling around $5-billion of shares in the firm in November 2021, according to BBC News.


By Zintle Nkohla

Follow Zintle Nkohla on Twitter

Follow IT News Africa on Twitter

Sign Up for Our Newsletters

Get notified of the best deals on our WordPress themes.

You May Also Like

Nokia Kenya Dodges a $260,000 Fine in Service Centre Contract Feud

A Kenyan court has reportedly rejected a petition filed by Kenyan dealer TechnoService which is seeking Sh150-million ($257,832.60) from cellphone manufacturer Nokia for allegedly selling some of its businesses to…
View Post

UBA & Cellulant Join Forces to Unite Africa’s Payments Ecosystem

Nigeria’s United Bank for Africa (UBA), and Cellulant, a leading Pan-African payments company, have announced a partnership that will extend payment services for merchants and consumers across 19 key African…
View Post

Paratus Expands to DRC, Connects 620KM Fibre Optic Line

Telecommunications firm Paratus Group has announced its expansion into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This coincides with the news that Paratus has won, together with DRC based Global Broadband…
View Post

Here’s How Much MTN Spent During the ICASA Spectrum Auction

MTN announced on Thursday that it had secured the high-demand spectrum required for its 4G and 5G network expansion drive from the highly anticipated ICASA spectrum auction. ICASA announced that…
View Post

MTN SA Invests $46.4-Million in New Infrastructure for KZN, South Africa

Africa’s largest telecom group MTN SA has announced a further investment of $46.4-million (R700-million) in order to modernise existing, and deploy new, network infrastructure across the KwaZulu-Natal province in South…
View Post

South Africa’s Dis-Chem Takes a Swing at WhatsApp Commerce

Clickatell, a CPaaS innovator and Chat Commerce leader, has been selected by leading South African retailer, Dis-Chem Pharmacies, to enable WhatsApp as its customer communication channel to engage with its…
View Post