As Elon Musk Strikes A Deal To Buy Twitter, Here Is A List Of Top 10 Shareholders

Twitter Deal: Tesla CEO had announced buying a 9.2 per cent stake for $44 billion in the company, making him one of the leading shareholders in the micro-blogging platform

Elon Musk has maintained that in order to grow and become a genuine platform for free speech, the social media platform should go private. Image: Getty ( Image Source :Elon Musk Twitter Getty )

New Delhi: The board of Twitter on Monday agreed to a buyout offer by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, for $44 billion.

Earlier this month, the Tesla CEO had announced buying a 9.2 per cent stake in the company, making him one of the leading shareholders in the micro-blogging platform.

According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), 50-year-old Musk bought 73,486,938 shares of Twitter on March 14.

Initially perceived as a passive one, the investment turned out to be a ‘hostile takeover’ by Musk. The founder of SpaceX, who had expressed his desire to acquire Twitter, has been holding several meetings with shareholders of the company to negotiate the deal.

After the buyout of Twitter, Musk has maintained that in order to grow and become a genuine platform for free speech, the social media platform should go private. After the buyout, Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter Inc, said that the only solution he trusts for the platform is Elon Musk.

Barring Musk, there are a few top shareholders in the company.

Top 10 Twitter shareholders

Stockholder                                         Stake              Shares owned

The Vanguard Group                          10.29%              8,24,03,665

Morgan Stanley Investment                8.08%               6,47,22,431

BlackRock Fund Advisors                    4.56%                3,65,36,143

SSgA Funds Management                  4.54%                3,63,63,324

Aristotle Capital Management            2.51%                2,01,12,134

Fidelity Management & Research       2.14%                1,71,12,059

ClearBridge Investments                     2.09%                1,67,33,505

Geode Capital Management              1.79%                 1,43,14,021

Nikko Asset Management                  1.56%                 1,24,67,698

Nikko Asset Management                 1.29%                  1,02,97,193

Source: CNN

The stock of Twitter closed on Monday at $51.70, up 5.66 per cent.

Musk, a prolific Twitter user, has over 8 crore followers since he joined the portal in 2009. He has been using the platform to make several announcements. However, the Tesla chief has been very critical of Twitter and its policies on freedom of speech.

In a recent Twitter poll, Musk asked users if they believed the platform adheres to the principle of free speech, to which over 70 per cent voted ‘no’.