Elon Musk’s Latest Twitter AdventureThe Tesla chief bought a big stake in the social media company. What’s his plan?

Elon Musk’s Latest Twitter Adventure

The Tesla chief bought a big stake in the social media company. What’s his plan?

What’s the plan?

Shares of Twitter soared 25 percent in premarket trading on news that Elon Musk had personally bought a 9.2 percent stake in the social media company, making him its largest shareholder. The stake, revealed in a regulatory filing, was amassed before Musk criticized Twitter in — yes — a series of tweets, questioning the company’s commitment to “free speech” and wondering whether a new social media platform was needed. With more sway over the company, will he try to reinvent Twitter to be more to his liking?

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Musk’s relationship with Twitter is long and complicated, involving most notably his legal wranglings with the S.E.C. over his tweets about Tesla’s finances. Will Musk now agitate for Twitter to alter its policy on moderating content in the name of freer speech? What is Elon Musk doing now?Will he push for Twitter to open up its algorithm, which the company’s co-founder and former C.E.O. Jack Dorsey appeared to support last week? (Musk and Dorsey are friendly.)

We have many more questions:

Musk built the stake through passive investments — will he keep buying or even try to acquire the company outright? (It would put a relatively small dent in his $270 billion-plus net worth.)

Will Musk ask to join Twitter’s board? Will Twitter invite him to join?

What do Tesla and SpaceX shareholders think of this? Will they see it as a distraction for Musk? And if Musk steers Twitter in a direction that irks policymakers, who have been trying to rein in social media platforms, could that create complications for Tesla or SpaceX? Recall that President Trump took a dim view of Amazon because he disagreed with coverage in The Washington Post, which Jeff Bezos owned separately.

Given Musk’s history with PayPal and interest in cryptocurrency, might he push Twitter to do more in payments?

How much money did Musk make off this morning’s news? Musk’s disclosure came out today, but the document detailing the stake, worth about $3 billion at Friday’s closing price, is dated March 14. Twitter’s shares are up about 50 percent since then.