--- title: "Elon Musk Buys Huge Share in Twitter, Becomes Largest Shareholder" description: "SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has bought a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, worth almost $3 billion, based on Friday's share prices." date: "2022-04-04" modified: "2022-04-04" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-buys-share-twitter" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "the digest" - "twitter" --- # Elon Musk Buys Huge Share in Twitter, Becomes Largest Shareholder ![SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has bought a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, worth almost $3 billion, based on Friday's share prices.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* ## Buying Twitter The richest man in the world is now the largest shareholder of Twitter. Not even two weeks [after railing against Twitter]() for alleged algorithmic bias, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk — who's also, notably, one of Twitter's most prominent users — has [bought a 9.2 percent stake]() in the social media company, worth almost $3 billion and making him the [company's largest shareholder](). Predictably, Twitter's shares surged as much as 26 percent in response to the news, [*Bloomberg* reports](). It makes some degree of sense. After all, Musk has used Twitter as his megaphone for well over a decade now, sometimes even [polling his 80 million followers]() to make financial decisions. But we still have no idea what his end game is, or if he will even want to join the company's board of directors. Musk, after all, has quite a packed schedule as it is. ## Open Source The news comes after Jack Dorsey [stepped down as CEO]() and was replaced by Parag Agrawal late last year, who will now have to contend with the outspoken and opinionated Musk. Musk's call on Twitter to open source its algorithms last month was echoed by Dorsey, who in response to Musk [argued]() that "the choice of which algorithm to use (or not) should be open to everyone." That means there is now considerable pressure on the social media company to take these calls more seriously. Whether that pressure will bring actual change is another question entirely — but Musk, for one, seems pretty serious. **READ MORE:** [Elon Musk becomes Twitter’s largest shareholder]() \[*The New York Times*\] **More on Elon:** *[Elon Musk Is Absolutely Furious at the Twitter Algorithm]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()