Former Microsoft CEO Ballmer Places Big Bet On Twitter, Building Up A 4 Percent Stake

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Friday that he has built up a 4 percent stake in Twitter, worth around $800 million based on Twitter's Thursday stock close of $29.71. The report, which Ballmer confirmed via email to Bloomberg, sent Twitter shares up 3.6 percent to $30.76 in afternoon trading Friday.

Ballmer's move comes as Twitter faces sweeping changes as it tries to get its once-explosive social media service back on track. Last week, Twitter reinstated its former CEO, Jack Dorsey, as the company's leader again. More recently, the company said Tuesday it was cutting up to 336 jobs, or 8 percent of its global workforce.

Ballmer, who left his post at Microsoft and stepped down from the Microsoft board of directors in 2014, also holds a 4 percent stake in the Redmond, Wash.-based company, representing Microsoft's largest individual shareholder.

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Ballmer, who owns the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, first revealed his stake in Twitter in a tweet, praising the company's recent moves as "more focused" and referring to another big Twitter shareholder, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, whose investment firm owns more than 5 percent of Twitter.

Good job , innovation, Ceo, leaner, more focused. Glad I bought 4% past few months. Like move too

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Despite Twitter's rocky past, Microsoft partner Douglas Grosfield, president and CEO of Ontario-based Xylotek Solutions, thinks Ballmer has "spent his money wisely."

"As a longtime Microsoft partner, Xylotek is always interested in what [Ballmer] is up to. Ballmer is a very aggressive and progressive thinker, who knows very well how to recognize opportunity and capitalize on it," he said. "Twitter, in its fairly short existence to date, has grown to be a platform that provides immediate, far-reaching exposure for ideas and events, that somehow still feels intimate and personal in terms of the connection one feels. With the work Twitter has put into things like advertising, and changes to Amplify in terms of video monetization for creators, there is significant potential for financial reward for shareholders, and Twitter users alike."

PUBLISHED OCT. 16, 2015