Elon Musk now largest outside shareholder in Twitter after buying 9.2 percent stake
Elon Musk just took his internet trolling to the next level.
The Tesla CEO has purchased a giant stake in Twitter, making him the largest outside shareholder in the social media company's stock, CNBC reports.
Musk now owns 73,486,938 shares, or a 9.2 percent passive stake in the company, per a Securities and Exchange Commission filing released Monday. According to Twitter's closing price on Friday, his stake is worth $2.89 billion.
The purchase sent TWTR shares skyrocketing more than 20 percent, and arrives after Musk had in recent weeks criticized the platform on the basis of free speech, The Washington Post reports.
The buy-up could also eventually represent a big shift for the platform itself, Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities, told the Post.
Ives thinks Musk "has his eyes laser set on Twitter," and his newly-acquired passive stake sets him up to take a "more aggressive ownership role" in the company.
"I think he intends to go active and force change," Ives said to CNN. "This is a shot across the bow at Twitter's board and management team to start discussions."
The Tesla CEO has roughly 80 million followers on Twitter, CNN reports.