Twitter Stock Soars 25% as Musk Buys 9.2%, Dogecoin (DOGE) Also Skyrockets
The pre-market prices of Twitter’s shares skyrocketed by double-digits as news emerged that Tesla’s CEO had acquired a 9.2% passive stake in the social media platform. Interestingly, Dogecoin’s price also soared once the news broke.
According to a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Elon Musk has taken a 9.2% passive stake in Twitter as of March 14. Ahead of the news coming out, this stake was worth nearly $3 billion.
More specifically, this means that he now owns 73,486,936 shares of the social media giant. Once reports started emerging about this news, the pre-market prices of TWTR soared by 25%, from $39.31 (close price on Friday) to nearly $50.
Interestingly, Musk criticized Twitter for its lack of transparency and free speech on March 26 – meaning after he had purchased the shares. At the time, he also dabbled with building a new platform.
Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.
What should be done? https://t.co/aPS9ycji37
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2022
As with almost everything even remotely connected to Elon Musk, the price of Dogecoin also felt the effects.
Dogecoin traded around $0.14 before it shot up by double-digits to an intraday high of almost $0.16 shortly after the news broke out.