SA国际传媒

CEO is now the largest outside shareholder in after buying a large stake in the social media company,

Musk鈥檚 purchase of more than 73,000 shares represents a 9.2 percent passive stake in the company, which had a market cap of over $37 billion Monday morning.

Shares of Twitter were up more than 20 percent Monday following the disclosure. Musk鈥檚 purchase follows his criticism of the platform and its adherence to 鈥渇ree speech principles,鈥� along with floating the idea of starting his own social media platform.

Musks鈥檚 stake in Twitter is passive, meaning he won鈥檛 be involved in the day-to-day operations of the business. But it also makes him the largest outside shareholder of the company. His ownership of the company surpasses that of , Twitter鈥檚 co-founder who stepped down as CEO last year, .

At the time of Twitter鈥檚 IPO in 2013, venture firms like , and were among the largest shareholders in the company. As of the end of last year, was among the largest shareholders with an 8.8 percent stake in the company.

In private companies, Musk, currently the CEO of both and Tesla, has invested in the likes of startups including andl.

Illustration: