JUST IN: Elon Musk Buys 9.2% Stake In Twitter, Microblogging App’s Shares Rise By 26%

Billionaire businessman, Elon Musk, has purchased a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter. The purchase has led shares in the social media giant to soar by about 26% on Monday.

According to Bloomberg, the news was announced in a regulatory statement on Monday, which led to the rise in shares during pre-market trading.

THE WHISTLER reported last week that Musk had announced that he was considering building his own social media platform, criticizing Twitter for not adhering to free speech principles.

He stated this while replying to a Twitter user’s question on whether he would consider building his own social media platform from the ground up.

“Am giving serious thought to this,” Musk had replied.

The Tesla founder had also created a Twitter poll asking his 80+ million followers to vote on whether they believed Twitter adheres to free speech policy as it is essential to a functioning democracy.

About 70% of those that responded voted “no” to which Musk replied that it meant Twitter was undermining democracy.