I don’t deny that, but it is not what he is doing here.
I am not sure why people shy away from the obvious: another of Musk’s strengths is market manipulation.
On 4 April, the announcement[0] of his becoming the largest shareholder jumped his Twitter stock[1] from a 73486938×33.03 = $2.4B purchase to a $3.7B asset, a $1.2B gain.
He sold 371900 stocks, for a $6M gain.
His 14 April announcement[2] of his offer to purchase Twitter was likely intended to boost the price further before the expected poison pill would justify him divesting everything as he stated he would do in the SEC filing[3], thus netting an even bigger gain.
It didn’t boost as he expected, but the value has remained higher than it started at. He will still make half a billion and his actions, this time, are hard to sue, since he did not lie on anything but intent, which is impossible to prove.
These paper profits are hard for him to realise, since he has to sell 9.2% of Twitter's stock without the price falling. Given the current price depends on his claimed intent to takeover, the market will react swiftly to any evidence that he is in fact reducing his stake.
> On 4 April, the announcement of his becoming the largest shareholder jumped his Twitter stock[0] from a $2.9B purchase to a $3.7B asset, a $779K gain.
I don’t deny that, but it is not what he is doing here.
I am not sure why people shy away from the obvious: another of Musk’s strengths is market manipulation.
On 4 April, the announcement[0] of his becoming the largest shareholder jumped his Twitter stock[1] from a 73486938×33.03 = $2.4B purchase to a $3.7B asset, a $1.2B gain.
He sold 371900 stocks, for a $6M gain.
His 14 April announcement[2] of his offer to purchase Twitter was likely intended to boost the price further before the expected poison pill would justify him divesting everything as he stated he would do in the SEC filing[3], thus netting an even bigger gain.
It didn’t boost as he expected, but the value has remained higher than it started at. He will still make half a billion and his actions, this time, are hard to sue, since he did not lie on anything but intent, which is impossible to prove.
[0]: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/04/twitter-shares-soar-more-tha...
[1]: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1418091/000110465922...
[2]: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1514564966564651008
[3]: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001418091/000110465...