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Steve Ballmer owns 4 percent stake in Twitter

The @Steven_Ballmer account has also been telling people it’s a real account, putting doubt into people’s minds whether it is, indeed, a real account.

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We’ve reached out to Twitter for comment, but it appears that the company won’t be notified if a stake is less than 5 percent, according to MarketWatch’s reporting.

But that account is not verified.

“@jack Ceo, leaner, more focused”, the tweet said.

It’s believed that Ballmer bought shares over the past few months. “I’m not sure how much of his 4 percent was acquired before Dorsey was appointed interim or permanent CEO”.

And @alwaleedbinT refers to Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, who boosted his stake in Twitter last week to more than 5%. Twitter co-founder Evan Williams has a 6.8% stake.

Shares of Twitter were up more than 3% in midday trading Friday.

There are no filings about Ballmer’s stake with the Securities and Exchange Commission either.

Steve Ballmer is CEO of Microsoft, headquartered in Redmond, Wash.

A 4% stake in San Francisco-based Twitter would be worth approximately $800 million, but the tweet said the purchases have been done over the past few months. There is also a new executive chairman – Google exec Omid Kordestani; Twitter has rolled out a number of new products, including a very innovative Moments feature, referenced by Ballmer in his tweet; and the company is rejiggering its staff, with large layoffs included.

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The Ballmer news caps a busy two weeks for Twitter.

Former Microsoft Corporation CEO Now Owns 4% Of Twitter Inc