Boy, that escalated quickly.
The world's richest man got even richer on Monday when Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk pulled in roughly $1.24 billion from his 9.2% stake in Twitter (TWTR).
Twitter's Largest Shareholder
The investment, which was revealed in a regulatory filing, makes Musk Twitter's largest shareholder.
On March 14, Musk bought 73,486,938 shares of Twitter, which were priced at $33.03 a share at the time, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, with the final tally coming to roughly $2.43 billion.
Twitter shares soared Monday on news of Musk's stake, closing up 27% to $49.97, and boosting the value of his investment to about $3.67 billion, indicating a profit of $1.24 billion.
News of Musk's stake lit up on Twitter, literally, in at least one case when a commenter posted a film clip of Musk using a hand-held flame thrower.
"Elon Musk walking into Twitter boardroom like..." the caption read.
And under the heading of more good news, Tesla shares ended 5.6% higher, boosted by record first quarter deliveries over the weekend amid what Musk called an "exceptionally difficult" start to the year.
The stake could be a precursor to a full-blown takeover bid, according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
"We would expect this passive stake as just the start of broader conversations with the Twitter board/management that could ultimately lead to an active stake; more aggressive ownership role of Twitter," Ives tweeted.
Musk has had Twitter in his sights for quite a while, expressing his displeasure with what he views as the treatment of free speech on the social media site.
'Serious Thought'
Late last month, Musk said he was giving 'serious thought" to starting his own social media company, and accused Twitter of "failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy" given that the site "serves as the de facto public town square."
He has declared on Twitter that "free speech is essential to a functioning democracy," and asked them "Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?"
The question was accompanied by a poll answered by more than 2 million Twitter users. Just over 70% responded that Twitter did not fully comply with the First Amendment.
The Twitter investment also did a number on Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWACU), the company set up to debut a new social media venture from former President Donald Trump.
Shares slid for the seventh straight day Monday, clobbered by the one-two punch of Musk's Twitter stake and news that two major executives were were leaving the company that makes the troubled Truth Social app.
The company has lost almost a quarter of its value since March 22.
