Clippers Owner Steve Ballmer Says He Owns 4 Percent Of Twitter
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Twitter's stock prices jumped Friday morning after former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced he owns four percent of the company.
That makes him a bigger shareholder than Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who owns approximately three percent of the company's shares, according to Bloomberg News.
Ballmer, who served as Microsoft's CEO for more than a decade and currently own the Los Angeles Clippers, confirmed the news via Twitter and reportedly in an email to Bloomberg News.
Good job @twitter,@twittermoments innovation, @jack Ceo, leaner, more focused. Glad I bought 4% past few months. Like @alwaleedbinT move too
— Steve Ballmer (@Steven_Ballmer) October 16, 2015
What seems odd is that Ballmer tweeted it from an unverified account claiming to be Ballmer. Approximately 3,400 people were following the account as of Friday morning - unusual for someone of Ballmer's stature.
He retweeted about his Twitter investment, which Bloomberg estimates cost an estimated $800 million, from a verified account that has nearly 9,000 followers. Still a low follower count than you'd expect from a tech luminary. Also, what's going on with the pixelated cover photo?
Maybe someone pointed this out to him because the new @Steven_Ballmer account appears more polished.
The revelation caused Twitter's stock prices to jump Friday morning. Bloomberg reports shares rose 3.6 percent to $30.78 at 1:56 p.m. in New York. Up until then, the stock had dipped 17 percent this year.