Ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer now owns 4% of Twitter’s shares

Steve Ballmer is many things: a former CEO of Microsoft, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, and now, the owner of 4% of Twitter’s stock. This was first revealed through a tweet on Steve Ballmer’s Twitter account, but some there were some doubts surrounding the validity of the claim because the account was unverified. However, Ballmer confirmed in an email to Bloomberg that the tweet was authentic, and that he now owns what amounts to about $800 million in Twitter stock.   

Steve Ballmer owns 4% of Twitter. We weren’t sure at first whether this tweet was real, because it was not from a verified account. But a source familiar with the situation confirmed that it was a real account and that Ballmer did in fact own 4% of Twitter. Ballmer followed up in an email to Bloomberg to confirm the news. Twitter is valued at $20 billion, so 4% of the company is worth $800 million. (We don’t know when the purchase was made, so it’s unclear how much Ballmer paid.) Twitter has been beat down by the public market as investors question whether it will be able to grow its user base to massive Facebook-like levels. The company just appointed its cofounder Jack Dorsey as full-time CEO, but he’s also running Square, a payments company that is pursuing an initial public offering. Initially we were skeptical of the tweet because it was sent from a new, unverified account. Ballmer had previously tweeted from the @clippersteveb account, but for whatever reason he switched to this other account.