Steve Ballmer now owns the same percentage of Twitter as he does of Microsoft.
The former Microsoft CEO today confirmed with Bloomberg that he owns a 4 percent stake in the social media giant. Ballmer tweeted late Thursday night about Twitter, noting his support for the recent changes at the company and revealing that he has recently become a substantial shareholder.
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
Twitter’s stock is up nearly 4 percent today following Ballmer’s tweet. The company has gone through some big changes in the past few months as it looks to sustain growth, including co-founder Jack Dorsey taking over as CEO, former Google veteran Omid Kordestan coming in as executive chairman, and new products like Twitter Moments — all of which Ballmer showed support for in his tweet.
Shares of Twitter, however, are down 40 percent in the past six months. The company laid off 8 percent of its workforce earlier this week.
Based on the value of the company’s stock at today’s price, Ballmer’s stake in the company is worth more than $800 million.
Bloomberg noted that Ballmer now ranks third among top individual shareholders at Twitter. Ballmer’s new stake in Twitter adds to his other post-Microsoft investments, which include a $2 billion purchase of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers.
The former Microsoft CEO, who led the company from 2000 to 2013 before stepping down last year, also still owns about 4 percent in Microsoft and is the largest individual shareholder of the Redmond tech giant.
As far as Ballmer’s Twitter account, it’s unclear why he’s not a “verified” user given that the 59-year-old is now an investor. Here’s a tweet from Oct. 5:
I think @twitter is remarkable. There is amazing chance to innovate and grow. Excited to see progress with @jack as CEO Impressive dude!
— Steve Ballmer (@Steven_Ballmer) October 6, 2015
Ballmer originally started tweeting from @stevebmicrosoft and referenced the account during a 2014 graduation speech at USC, but has since transitioned to @Steven_Ballmer. His first tweet ever was from April 2009:
Russia here we go
— Steve Ballmer (@stevebmicrosoft) April 19, 2009
Ballmer only tweeted or retweeted others about 30 times on his original account. We’ll see if his Twitter activity picks up now that he’s an active investor in the company. With the NBA season coming up, we can expect some Clippers-related tweets, for sure.
NBA preseason is here. I have to say I am so so so excited about that @LAClippers are set to roll
— Steve Ballmer (@Steven_Ballmer) October 6, 2015
