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A minor social media mystery is developing after an account allegedly belonging to former Microsoft head Steve Ballmer referenced buying a stake in Twitter in a tweet.
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
The account is not verified, though there are reports in the US that the account does indeed belong to the man who also owns the LA Clippers basketball team.
Ballmer is said to have confirmed to Bloomberg via email that the account is genuine, as is the investment.
The news has been met with a positive reaction by investors too.
$TWTR shares are up 4% on confirmation that @Steven_Ballmer is backing @jack with 4% stake in social media company. http://t.co/ftzaG16BLt
— Jessica Guynn (@jguynn) October 16, 2015
The news of added investment from Ballmer comes at the end of a busy week for Twitter, with co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey having just taken the reins for a second time. But it also follows the announcement of more than 300 jobs being cut by the social media site as it works to improve its positioning within a social network platform dominated by Facebook-owned companies.
Ballmer is quite the eccentric, and when he left Microsoft in 2013 this was how he signed off.
If he decides to up his stake in Twitter further, things could get quite interesting.
