Elon Musk discloses 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter

Twitter's stock soared in pre-market trading on Monday after Tesla CEO Elon Musk disclosed a more than 9 percent stake in the social media company.  Musk is taking a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter. Musk purchased approximately 73.5 million shares, according to a regulatory filing Monday. Musk's stake in Twitter is considered a passive investment, which means Musk is a long-term investor that's looking to minimise his buying and selling of the shares. Musk, a prolific user of Twitter, has over 80 million followers on the site since joining in 2009 and has used the platform to make several announcements, including teasing a go-private deal for Tesla that landed him in regulatory scrutiny.

 He, however, has been critical of the social media platform and its policies of late and has said the company is undermining democracy by failing to adhere to free speech principles.Meanwhile, Musk and Twitter's billionaire co-founder, Jack Dorsey, have had some common ground in terms of dismissing the so-called Web3, a vague term for a utopian version of the internet that is decentralized. Musk is also the founder and CEO of SpaceX, and leads brain-chip startup Neuralink and infrastructure firm The Boring Company.