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Elon Musk Throws Down the Gauntlet on Twitter
American Thinker.com ^ | April 6, 2022 | Tim O'Brien

Posted on 04/06/2022 4:28:21 AM PDT by Kaslin

The digital town square is undergoing an unexpected shake-up with Elon Musk taking a nine percent majority stake in Twitter. Ramifications will be felt on both sides of the political divide through the midterm elections and beyond.

In a Monday filing with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), it was reported that Elon Musk has taken a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter with 73.5 million shares in the company. His investment was estimated at roughly $2.89 billion. This makes him the majority shareholder in the company.

Musk is among the richest people in the world. Forbes lists his worth as more than $287 billion. As for size, Twitter’s market capitalization was valued at just over $31 billion the Friday before Musk’s news. A few hours after Musk bought his shares, the company’s market cap rose to over $38 billion. And this is just on the news of his purchase, before any anticipated changes at the company.

For comparison, Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and other digital platforms, had a market cap of roughly $230 billion at the time of the Elon Musk-Twitter news.

Clearly, Twitter is significantly smaller in financial terms than its Big Tech sibling. But its outsized influence has been a point of contention on both the Left and the Right.

The Digital Town Square

Perhaps nobody illustrated the power of Twitter in recent years more than former President Donald Trump, famous for his tweets that gave him a way to speak directly to the American people without the filter of third-party media. At the same time, his tweets drove the corporate media narrative whether it liked it or not.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: bigtech; freespeech; internet; socialmedia; twitter
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1 posted on 04/06/2022 4:28:21 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

What???

majority ??? How about largest?


2 posted on 04/06/2022 4:39:23 AM PDT by ptsal (Vote R.E.D. >>>Remove Every Democrat ***)
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To: Kaslin

I’m enjoying this.


3 posted on 04/06/2022 4:41:09 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (They intend to murder us. Prep if you want to live and live like you are prepping for eternal life)
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To: ptsal

That would require this ‘reporter’ to know what he was talking about.


4 posted on 04/06/2022 4:41:28 AM PDT by Mr. K (No consequence of repealing obamacare is worse than obamacare itself)
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To: Kaslin

He has now filed a 13 D because he is going to act more like Carl Icahn than Warren Buffett.

There are two interesting things from that 13 G. It was late and he did not include a typical certification that he did not intend to influence company.

I don’t know what to make of it. bad lawyers or just Musk poking SEC in the eye.

And for those that still don’t know how to read a 13g..look at the 13 D...do the math...and you will see he was late with the 13G. Will the SEC go after him for that March 25th tweet. Maybe.


5 posted on 04/06/2022 4:48:30 AM PDT by RummyChick ( )
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To: RummyChick

Btw..there is a discrepancy in number of shares owned between the two documents..so it appears he is already taking profit.


6 posted on 04/06/2022 4:53:04 AM PDT by RummyChick ( )
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To: Sirius Lee

When this first came out I thought it was him just going to be a passive trolling investor..thus the 13G

But in reality this was probably a 13d manuever all along.

And he is playing games with the SEC. So now we wait and see what the SEC does about it.


7 posted on 04/06/2022 5:00:49 AM PDT by RummyChick ( )
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To: Kaslin

He’ll need 51% ownership in a company composed of Leftists. Until that being the largest shareholder yet a non-leftist means he’s an antagonist to the cause.

But, Twitter + Starlink can circumvent government control of information exchange. So he’s got a good cause.


8 posted on 04/06/2022 5:00:55 AM PDT by Justa (If where you came from is so great then why aren't Floridians moving there?)
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To: Justa

Pozner makes an interesting point about deference

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/04/05/twitter-says-no-plans-to-bring-trump-back-now-that-free-speech-advocate-elon-musk-is-coming-aboard/

The reality is that Musk is not a normal minority shareholder. Hedge funds and Musk make up more than 50 percent. The same Hedge funds that may have Tesla stock.

Musk will have a lot of clout. Will be interesting to see if he tries to get rid of the CEO. I really believe Dorsey was forced out behind the scenes..and so can his replacement


9 posted on 04/06/2022 5:10:09 AM PDT by RummyChick ( )
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To: Kaslin

I’ll believe it when Trump is reinstated on twatter.


10 posted on 04/06/2022 5:11:54 AM PDT by HighSierra5 (The only way you know a commie is lying is when they open their pieholes.p)
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To: HighSierra5

Babylon bee guy says musk asked him if he had been suspended before the poll musk tweeted.. and said he might have to buy twitter


11 posted on 04/06/2022 5:18:13 AM PDT by RummyChick ( )
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To: RummyChick

Seeing some tweets theorizing they only put Musk on the board to try to keep him from gaining control of the company via the limit on shares


12 posted on 04/06/2022 5:22:11 AM PDT by RummyChick ( )
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To: RummyChick

Heard on wcbm that he is a member of the board or chair, regardless, he has no say on policy because of his appointment, according to the host on wcbm.


13 posted on 04/06/2022 5:46:42 AM PDT by saturn
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To: ptsal

9% is what he owns. Not exactly the controlling share.


14 posted on 04/06/2022 5:54:44 AM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: Beowulf9

I heard Blackrock owns 9.3% interest in Twitter. Musk may not have controlling interest, but he has a lot of clout all of a sudden on the board of directors. If he holds to form, he will be preasuring them to let Trump back on the platform if nothing else than to help raise the public’s waning opinion of Twitter back into the realm of appearing fair and balanced.


15 posted on 04/06/2022 6:13:17 AM PDT by Rainwave ("Work out your OWN salvation with fear and trembling")
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To: Rainwave

Everyone is saying this but I have not seen Elon Musk say it. Remains to be seen. Personally, I don’t think so. No evidence to this whatsoever.


16 posted on 04/06/2022 6:19:58 AM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: Rainwave

Elon M. is the #1 holder of shares...Blackrock is #4:

https://twitter.com/timsteno/status/1510990233814417415?s=20&t=paJfrObbrajlCkJlLo-TqQ


17 posted on 04/06/2022 6:26:17 AM PDT by Drago
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To: Kaslin

Elon’s move has CRUSHED Trump and his DWAC partners. Stock down 40% in past week. Trump’s social media strategy is as an alternative to “cancel culture.” If he is uncanceled, why use Truth Social?


18 posted on 04/06/2022 6:34:22 AM PDT by montag813
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To: Drago
Elon M. is the #1 holder of shares...Blackrock is #4:

Jack Dorsey founded the thing. How can he no longer be in the top 10?

19 posted on 04/06/2022 6:34:57 AM PDT by montag813
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To: montag813

@Jack is still at #8...I think he sold a bunch of shares before the Twitter stock price tanked over the last year.

https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/TWTR?qsearchterm=twitter


20 posted on 04/06/2022 6:38:14 AM PDT by Drago
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