The world’s richest man became even wealthier on Monday after he disclosed that he had acquired 9.2 percent of Twitter.
Elon Musk’s investment was already doing very well before the announcement. He purchased 73,486,938 shares of Twitter’s common stock on March 14, probably paying around $33 a share or $2.4 billion. As of Friday, the shares were up to $39 or so, a return of around 18 percent. Following the disclosure in a regulatory filing, shares jumped another 27 percent to $49.97. Musk’s shares are now up 50 percent from when he acquired them.
Not that Musk would even notice. According to Bloomberg, Musk is worth around $288 billion. So, an extra billion or so here or there is not going to make a difference.
Musk may have also broken the rules by delaying his disclosure until today. The Securities and Exchange Commission typically requires an investor who acquires five percent or more of a public company to file the appropriate paperwork within 10 days. Musk tweeted about Twitter’s policies on March 25—asking if Twitter adhered to the principles of free speech—but did not file anything until today. That might earn him a fine, but it’s likely to be so small in comparison to Musk’s wealth that it might as well just be a harsh glance.
There is some talk that Musk might try to acquire Twitter altogether. After its gains Monday, the company has a market cap of $40 billion—putting it theoretically in reach for Musk. Most of his wealth, however, is shares of Tesla, and selling those to buy Twitter might rattle investors in those companies.
Or maybe not. Those investors certainly seemed to like Musk’s acquisition of part of Twitter. Tesla shares rose 5.6 percent on Monday, which means Elon made even more on Monday in Tesla gains than he spent to acquire those Twitter shares. In other words, the market reaction to the Twitter investment has more than paid for the investment itself.
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