How Twitter Employees Reacted to Elon Musk Buying Huge Stake in Company

The announcement that billionaire Elon Musk has become Twitter's largest shareholder after buying a $2.9 billion stake in the company triggered vocal reactions from the social media platform's employees, who tweeted a combination of mocking comments and serious expressions of uneasiness.

"Good morning to our new overlord!" tweeted Twitter's Global Head of Partners Lara Cohen.

"Fun times ahead," wrote Twitter's Product Lead Michael Sayman, adding "whenever you want to chat, let's do it @elonmusk."

Twitter employees, as well as Twitter users, didn't hold back on their feelings, sharing jokes about Musk leading Twitter's next board meeting.

"Elon at the next Twitter board meeting," tweeted one user sharing a picture of Sesame Street's Big Bird sitting in a boardroom.

"Twitter next board meeting," posted Sayman, sharing a picture of Musk sitting in a boardroom dressed like Wario from Nintendo's Super Mario from Saturday Night Live.

Shares in the company soared by 23 percent on Monday following the announcement.

Haraldur Thorleifsson, who leads Twitter's 0→1 Team, reacted to the news writing: "Elon Musk just (temporarily at least) made me a lot of money. And I still dislike him."

Later on Twitter, Musk asked users if they wanted an edit button on the platform, an initiative Twitter announced on April 1 that it had started working on. So far, the majority of respondents to the Twitter poll have voted in favor of an edit button.

EJ Samson, who works in Global Business Marketing at Twitter, re-shared Musk's poll with a gif from the film Bridesmaids showing a freaked out Kristen Wiig asking: "What is happening?!"

Musk, the richest man in the world and a controversial Twitter user, now owns 9.2 percent of Twitter. Tesla's boss has a following of over 80 million on Twitter, which makes his account one of the most followed on the platform.

Musk has recently been critical of Twitter, questioning whether the social media platform was doing enough to protect freedom of speech. In a Twitter poll on March 25, he asked users if they thought Twitter was doing enough to adhere to the principle, and 70.4 percent of respondents answered that the platform wasn't doing enough.

"Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy," Musk wrote the day after. He asked if a new platform was needed to replace Twitter.

"Buy and delete it," answered one user.

Musk is so far a "passive" shareholder in the company, which means he owns a significant interest, but that he's not involved in the company's management.

Analysts believe Musk might eventually take a more active role.

"We would expect this passive stake as just the start of broader conversations with the Twitter board/management that could ultimately lead to an active stake and a potential more aggressive ownership role of Twitter," tweeted Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives.