(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) When Elon Musk joined Twitter‘s board on Monday, he filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a “passive investor,” but he refiled on Tuesday to declare himself an “active investor.”
The initial form that he submitted, a 13G, would have prevented him from buying more Twitter shares than his current 73.5 million—a 9.1 percent stake in the company that makes him the single-largest shareholder.
The new form that he submitted, a 13D, clarifies that he may intend to purchase more Twitter stocks. The SEC filing states that his appointment to the board of directors limits his total stock acquisition to 14.9 percent, preventing him from mounting a full takeover of the company.
Musk has personal and public goals in his appointment to Twitter’s board.
He wants to free himself from a 2018 SEC settlement that prevents him from tweeting about stock trading. The SEC fined him $20 million for claiming in a tweet that he had the money to buy out Tesla’s stock and take it private.
Musk also wants to free average and high-profile Twitter accounts—including former President Donald Trump according to some speculation—from speech restrictions and permanent bans.
He reached out to Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon about Twitter’s ban on the company’s account. The Babylon Bee tweeted a story mocking Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine for winning USA Today’s “Woman of the Year” award.
Other possible Twitter reforms include adding an “edit” button, ending shadow-banning and de-platforming, and providing a universal identity-verification system, the Federalist reported. The Babylon Bee also shared some comical reforms that Musk could make.
“Musk is in a position to influence Twitter’s potential beyond news and live events, and could help draw younger users,” said Mandeep Singh, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
“Though the edit button and removal of bots are some features that Musk has openly advocated for recently, we think board and management changes are likely in the next six months if the company continues to underperform peers.”
