We searched who owned Twitter before Elon Musk and how much did Elon Musk buy Twitter for, and more about the acquisition. Do you want to know who owned it before? Well, not a specific person like Musk, as the company has been a publicly traded since 2013 which means it could have many owners. Or depending on how you think, a few billionaire owners rather than one…
Who owned Twitter before Elon Musk?
The firm weathered a number of challenges after its creation in 2006, including management upheaval that saw co-founder Jack Dorsey ousted in the early days and his eventual return in 2015. In 2016, the firm was considering selling itself, attracting the attention of companies like as Walt Disney Co. and Salesforce Inc. after an IPO in 2013. Dorsey in 2020 got tangled with an activist investor that forced the company to set specific growth targets and add greater board accountability. This helped to push Dorsey towards his second exit, allowing him to focus on his other firm, Block Inc., which provides digital-payment services.
Who was the owner of Twitter before Elon Musk?
1. The Vanguard Group, Inc.
The largest stake in the company was held by the Vanguard Group. Vanguard offers hundreds of mutual funds, ETFs, and retirement products, one of the world’s largest investment managers. As of Jan. 31, 2022, the company had about $8.1 trillion in assets under management.
The largest proportion of the stock was owned by the Vanguard funds, which had a combined 82.4 million shares (10.3 percent of outstanding shares). The Vanguard Communications Services ETF (VOX) and the Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) were among the group funds holding shares.
2. Elon Musk
Musk, a frequent user of the company, revealed on April 4, 2022 that he owned 73.5 million shares, worth around $6 billion at the time. This made him the largest shareholder at the time. The disclosure filing indicated it was triggered by an event on March 14, 2022. Investors are required to file an ownership disclosure within 10 days of acquiring a stake of 5% or more in a publicly-traded company.
Musk originally filed Schedule 13G as a passive investor, which is defined as someone who does not wish to exercise control of the firm. On April 5, the company announced that it had appointed Musk to its board and he had filed a Schedule 13D reclassification to change his status from passive investor to active investor. This filing also revealed that Musk had trimmed his holdings to 73.1 million shares, a 9.1% stake. Less than a week later, on April 10, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced Musk had decided not to join the board.
On April 25, 2022, the company announced that it had accepted Musk’s offer to purchase all outstanding common stock for $54.20 per share, representing a value of about $44 billion for the company.
3. Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley (MS), an investment bank and asset manager, owned the third-largest stake with about 67 million shares, or 8.4 percent of the total outstanding. As of the same date, Morgan Stanley has $6.5 trillion in assets, after acquiring online brokerage E*TRADE in 2020 and mutual fund manager Eaton Vance in 2021. The firm offers investment banking and asset management in addition to trading services and investment research.
4. BlackRock Inc.
BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, owned 52.1 million shares in its various exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles as of year-end 2021, which amounts to a 6.5 percent stake.
BlackRock had nearly $11 trillion in assets under management at the end of 2021. The firm issues the popular iShares ETF line. The iShares Evolved U.S. Media and Entertainment ETF (IEME) is among the BlackRock funds with Twitter holdings. They are also in circular ownership with Vanguard Group Inc. (which means they are kind of a single company and should be illegal) and are currently too busy buying up bulk neighborhoods (let alone individual houses) to create rent-slaves out of the next generation.
5. State Street Corp.
State Street Corp. (STT), which operates the SPDR exchange-traded funds as State Street Global Advisors, held 36.4 million shares in its funds at year-end 2021, representing a 4.5 percent interest in the company.
State Street provides a wide range of investment management services for corporate clients, including securities custody for institutional customers. As of Q4 2021, the company manages $4.1 trillion in assets.
How much did Elon Musk buy Twitter for?
Eccentric billionaire agreed to buy Twitter Inc. for $44 billion, using one of history’s biggest leveraged buyout deals. The company said that investors will receive $54.20 for each share they own in a statement Monday. The price is 38% more than the stock’s close on April 1, the last business day before Musk disclosed a significant stake in the company.
Twitter stock price
TWTR stock resumed trading on Monday as the firm revealed it had accepted Elon Musk’s offer to buy the firm. The share price increased 5.9% to $51.79.
