Who owns Twitter?

When it comes to the top social networks in the world, you must recognize twitter which is one of the most popular social networks in the world today.

Lately, there has been a loud buzz and news around the popular social network, this comes right after the involvement of Tesla CEO, Elon Musk.

Elon Musk revealed on April 4th, 2022 that he has purchased 9.2% of Twitter. The stock price soared as news broke that the world's richest man had become (temporarily) the largest stakeholder in his preferred social media network.

Later on, he offered to buy Twitter for $43 billion.

Musk wrote in a letter to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.”

The social media platform, according to Musk, has to go private since it can “neither thrive nor serve” free expression in its current position.

He wrote, “As a result, 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.”

Also added, “My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”

With this current news concerning Elon Musk and Twitter, a lot of people are now asking questions as to who owns the social media network.

Twitter ownership

There are many shareholders in Twitter Inc., therefore no single person owns the entire corporation.

It's a public corporation since its shares can be purchased on the stock exchange by anybody with sufficient money, however, it would be private if only a few persons or groups owned it.

Musk's purchase momentarily made him Twitter's biggest shareholder, according to public sources. Till the mutual fund giant, The Vanguard Group reported in a filing with the SEC that its funds held 82.4 million shares, making up for 10.3% of Twitter's common stock, as of March 31, 2022

Elon Musk, the world's richest individual, is now the second-largest shareholder as a result of the latest development. He owns 9.2% of Twitter Inc. with his 73.5 million shares.

Here are the top shareholders of Twitter Inc.

1. The Vanguard Group Inc.

The largest shareholder in Twitter is Vanguard Group. Vanguard, one of the world's largest investment managers, offers hundreds of mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and retirement programs.

As of January 31, 2022, the company managed approximately $8.1 trillion in assets.

Vanguard funds owned around 82.4 million Twitter shares, or 10.3% of the total number of shares outstanding as of March 31, 2022.

Among the group funds owning Twitter shares are the Vanguard Communications Services ETF (VOX) and the Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG).

2. Elon Musk

Musk, a regular Twitter user, revealed on April 4, 2022, that he owned 73.5 million Twitter shares or 9.2% of the corporation. This made him Twitter's largest shareholder. It was triggered by an occurrence on March 14, 2022, according to the disclosure form.

Within 10 days after acquiring a holding of 5% or more in a publicly-traded firm, investors must file an ownership disclosure.

Musk signed Schedule 13G as a passive investor, which is described as an investor who does not plan to exercise control over the company, but on April 5, Twitter appointed Musk to its board of directors, and he signed Schedule 13D to reposition himself as an active investor.

Musk's ownership has been reduced to 73.1 million shares, or 9.1% of the company, according to the filing. On April 10, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal revealed Musk's decision not to join the board of directors.

Musk issued Twitter a tender offer on April 13 for $54.20 per share for all outstanding ordinary stock, valuing the firm at $43 billion.

3. Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley, which is an investment bank and asset manager, owns around 67 million shares in Twitter, or 8.4 percent of the total outstanding as of year-end 2021.

After buying online brokerage E*TRADE in 2020 and mutual fund manager Eaton Vance in 2021, Morgan Stanley had $6.5 trillion in customer assets as of the same date.

The firm offers trading services and investment research in addition to investment banking and asset management.

4. BlackRock Inc.

As of the year-end in 2021, international investment manager BlackRock Inc. (BLK) had 52.1 million shares of Twitter in its various exchange-traded funds and other investment vehicles, representing a 6.5% ownership.

By the end of 2021, BlackRock had $10 trillion in assets under management. The prominent iShares ETF line is produced by the company.

The iShares Evolved U.S. One of the BlackRock funds having Twitter holdings is the Media and Entertainment ETF.

5. State Street Corp.

As of the year-end of 2021, State Street Corp. (STT), which operates the SPDR exchange-traded funds as State Street Global Advisors, had 36.4 million Twitter shares in its funds, representing a 4.5% position in the firm.

State Street provides a wide range of investment management services to institutional clients, including securities custody. As of Q4 2021, the firm had $4.1 trillion in financial assets under control.

Some other shareholders of Twitter Inc. following the top five are:

Aristotle Capital Management owns 21,112,134 shares

FMR LLC owns 17,641,927 shares

Ark Investment Management owns 17,245,755 shares

Clearbridge Investments owns 16,733,505 shares

Geode Capital Management owns 14,314,021 shares

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings owns 12,467,698 shares

A little background on Twitter

Twitter was first created in March 2006. 

As the group began testing the platform, Dorsey posted the first public tweet on March 21, 2006, with the message “just putting up my twttr.” Twttr was the company’s original name until July of that year when it was renamed Twitter.

Along with Jack Dorsey, three other people from San Francisco, California, co-founded Twitter; they are Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass.

Dorsey, who is Twitter's most well-known founder, served as CEO from 2006 to 2008, then as Chairman until 2015. He then resumed his role as CEO from 2015 to 2021.

From 2008 to 2010, fellow co-founder Williams served as CEO, before Dick Costolo, originally Twitter's Chief Technology Officer, took over as CEO until 2015.

Parag Agrawal is the current CEO of Twitter.