Major Investor Elliott Management Sold Its Equity Stake In Twitter

Activist investor Elliott Management sold its equity stake in Twitter during the second quarter, coinciding with a period in which the social media company's share price fluctuated due to billionaire Elon Musk's takeover bid. A Securities and Exchange (SEC) filing revealed that Elliott Management sold its common stock in Twitter as of June 30, along with cutting other exposure to the company, including call options on an additional 2 million shares.

As of March 31, Elliott Management had 10 million shares on Twitter. The company's share price rose dramatically in April when it agreed to a Musk-fronted takeover deal at $54.20 per share. Data from the Financial Times showed that Twitter's share price rose to $51.70 at the end of April, falling to $37.39 on June 30 before Musk pulled out of the deal. Elliott Management was one of Twitter's largest shareholders and was a major influence in shaking up the business, as it has done with other telecommunications and technology companies.  Notable moves included a push to remove Jack Dorsey as CEO, naming his partner Jesse Cohn on the board of the social media company, and helping launch a subscription-based product called Twitter Blue. The after-effects of the acquisition saga continue, with the billionaire and Twitter now embroiled in a legal battle as the company attempts to force Musk to make good on the deal. 

Elliott invested in Twitter in early 2020 and called for the removal of Jack Dorsey, one of the company's co-founders and CEO at the time. The company and the hedge fund soon reached an agreement, giving the hedge fund a seat on Twitter. Board and Dorsey were replaced in late 2021. Elliott was off the board last year. Some other prominent investors also cut their Twitter holdings.Hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Company owned 932,716 shares at the end of the second quarter, after having sold 3.7 million shares.Balyasny Asset Management sold 1.3 million shares for 172,821 shares on June 30, while SRS Investment Management sold 7 million shares for 125,226 shares.So-called 13-F filings are watched closely for investment trends, even though the data is released late and can be dated.