Elon Musk picks 9.2% in Twitter for $2.89bn

San Francisco: Tesla CEO Elon Musk is taking a 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter. Musk purchased approximately 73.5 million shares, according to a regulatory filing Monday. The stake is estimated to be $2.89bn (£2.20bn), based on Twitter's closing price on Friday. The news sent Twitter shares soaring about 25% in pre-market trading on Monday, while shares of Tesla rose slightly. The stake makes Musk one of the largest shareholders in the company and is more than four times the 2.25% holding of Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.

Musk's stake in Twitter is considered a passive investment, which means Musk is a long-term investor that's looking to minimise his buying and selling of the shares.

"The Tesla founder bought 73,486,938 Twitter shares on 14 March," according to a communiqué to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Musk is a regular Twitter user with more than 80 million followers, although recently he said he is giving 'serious thought' to building a new social media platform. However, Musk has been raising questions about the ability to communicate freely on Twitter, tweeting last month about free speech and the social media platform and industry analysts were skeptical about the mercurial CEO remaining on the sidelines anywhere.