Elon Musk — once again — has everyone on Twitter talking.
But this time, the talk is about Twitter ( TWTR) itself. On Monday, the company disclosed that Musk has purchased 9.2% of its shares, making him Twitter’s largest individual shareholder. And on Tuesday, Twitter announced that it is appointing Musk to its board. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO also confirmed he plans to push for changes at the company. «Looking forward to working with [Twitter CEO] Parag [Agrawal] & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!» Musk tweeted Tuesday morning. It’s just the latest chapter in Musk’s, shall we say, colorful, nearly 13-year history on Twitter ( TWTR), where he’s played the roles of critic and power-user. His tweets — which range from commentary about his companies, Tesla ( TSLA) and SpaceX, to sometimes controversial statements about pop culture and current events to niche memes — are watched by more than 80 million followers, more than any other CEO on the platform. His (often vague) comments about cryptocurrency have shown the potential to create massive upheaval in crypto markets. And just last month, more than 2 million people responded to a poll he tweeted asking, «Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?» Around 70% voted no. Musk’s Twitter presence began facing increased scrutiny in 2018. Over the course of a few months, he joked about tweeting while on Ambien, lashed out at journalists covering Tesla, posted an April Fool’s Day joke about Tesla going bankrupt, and made an unfounded and disparaging claim about a rescuer who aided in the mission that saved a youth soccer team from a flooded cave in Thailand. That led a top analyst to write an open letter encouraging Musk to take a break from the platform. Musk being Musk, he did no such thing; instead, his behavior on the platform continued to escalate. A month after the open letter was posted, Musk tweeted that he was «considering taking Tesla private at $420» and that he had «funding secured,» sparking a frenzy and sending shares in the automaker up to $371 from $342.
