Elon Musk dethroned as largest Twitter shareholder

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and social media giant Twitter are the talk of the town these days, with both courting some or the other controversy every other day. Amid reports that Musk has tried to make a 'hostile takeover' of Twitter with his $43 billion offer, a recent regulatory filing shows that he is no longer the largest shareholder in Twitter.

The current holding of Pennsylvania-based investment adviser Vanguard group, which owns 82.4 million shares in Twitter, stands at 10.3%, the latest data available with US Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC) shows. At the current stock pricing, this has taken Vanguard's holdings in the company to $3.78 billion. Its current holding has increased from 8.8% in December 2021 to 10.3% now.

The group's investment is in the form of an index and passive funds, a report by global business news daily suggest, adding that the group's approach remains friendly, and often supports Twitter management on most issues.

However, Musk still remains the largest individual shareholder in Twitter.

The updated Rule 13D filing with the US SEC on Wednesday showed Elon Musk offered to buy 100% of Twitter Inc at $54.20 per share for $43 billion. "I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced," Musk's letter to Bret Taylor, chairman of the board at Twitter, shows.

He also added that his offer is the "best and final offer", and if it is not accepted, he'll "reconsider" his position as a shareholder.

Vowing to transform Twitter, Musk said he thinks it has the potential to be the platform of free speech around the globe. But, in its current form, the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative, he said.

Twitter, in its response, said it has received an unsolicited, non-binding offer from Musk to acquire all of the company's outstanding common stock for $54.20 per share in cash. The company said its board will "carefully" review the proposal and make the decision that's in the best interest of the shareholders.

Musk also hinted at a hostile takeover of the firm, tweeting "it would be utterly indefensible not to put this offer to a shareholder vote." This has caused chaos in the Twitter board, with some planning to use a defensive corporate approach like raising the share price to thwart Musk from taking over the company.

Via a series of tweets, Musk continued his campaign against Twitter. "Taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board," Musk tweeted with a poll today, asking users to reply with 'yes' or 'no'.

His other tweet was a report by Goldman Sachs, which came on February 10, showing a $30 price objective for the company's stock.

The Tesla CEO had acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter by purchasing nearly 73.5 million shares in March. Musk's shareholding is more than four times the 2.25% stake held by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.

The Twitter share closed 1.68% lower at $45.08 on New York Stock Exchange on April 14.