Oligarch in training Elon Musk has lost his position as the largest individual shareholder of Twitter after the Vanguard Group increased its share of the company’s stock to own more than 10% of the social media giant, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Musk holds 9.1% of outstanding Twitter stock, and he made an offer to buy out all shares for $54.20 per share, about a 20% premium of the stock’s price at the start of trading Friday. Musk’s offer excited conservative pundits who wish to create their very own obnoxiously rich, above-the-law oligarch in the United States, believing that having a social media platform owned by a single, temperamental individual is a way to ensure their “free speech” rights.
Vanguard has been a long-time Twitter shareholder, hanging on the stock as a value proposition rather than viewing ownership as a way to meddle in the operations of the company.