Elon Musk has quietly acquired 9.2 percent of Twitter shares. This theoretically makes Musk the largest shareholder of the microblogging service. But what are the Tesla CEO’s goals? Via Twitter, he now asked his followers whether they would like to see an edit button.
On April 1, 2022, Twitter posted via its official account: “We are working on an edit button”. Even though some users took the tweet at face value according to the comments, it seems to have been due to the date and intended as an April Fool’s joke.
But now, just a few days later, after it became known that Tesla CEO Elon Musk had already acquired 9.2 percent of Twitter shares on March 14, 2022, the tweet appears in a different light. Because Musk is now theoretically considered the company’s largest shareholder.
But what plans and goals is the Tesla CEO pursuing with his shares and his voting rights? And: How much power and influence does Musk now have as the largest Twitter shareholder?
Edit button: Elon Musk launches Twitter poll
Just one day after it was announced that Elon Musk had taken over 9.2 percent of Twitter shares, he launched a poll on Twitter asking his followers whether they would like to see a so-called edit button. The fact is that former CEO and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey once categorically ruled out such a function.
Nevertheless, the discussion about an edit button continues to germinate. The camp of Twitter users seems to be divided. While some would like to have such a function so that they can edit their tweets even after they have been published, others argue that it is precisely the lack of an edit button that makes Twitter so special.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal responds to Musk survey
“Do you want an edit button?” Musk, the new main shareholder of Twitter, asked his followers now. How much power and influence the Tesla CEO now has after his entry is currently still unclear. In theory, however, he now has voting rights.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who took over the post from Jack Dorsey, reacted promptly to the tweet and couldn’t resist making a small point. He asked Twitter users to vote carefully, saying the consequences of the poll were important. Musk had already asked his followers about freedom of speech on Twitter with a similar formulation a few days earlier
Twitter share price jumps
Musk’s Twitter poll will have no direct consequences on the presumed introduction of an edit button. But Musk’s tweet is once again drawing attention to himself and making himself heard by many advocates of such a function.
However, Elon Musk has so far kept a low profile about what he expects from his entry into Twitter. As reported by Handelsblatt, the new majority shareholder cannot actively influence the microblogging service’s business for the time being.
However, Musk’s entry gave the Twitter share price a real boost. Shortly after it became known that Musk had acquired 9.2 percent of the shares, the securities recorded an increase of around 25 percent. For Musk, this theoretically means an interim profit of over one billion US dollars.
