However, both accounts aren’t exactly prolific when it comes to tweeting.
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Ballmer earlier this morning disclosed that he owned 4% of Twitter in a Tweet. There have been plenty of cases in which hackers compromised the Twitter accounts of high-profile companies, so it’s possible that this has happened again. His share purchases apparently came over the course of the past few months. “I’m not sure how much of his 4 percent was acquired before Dorsey was appointed interim or permanent CEO”. The stock was up 3.6 percent at $30.76 in afternoon trading on Friday.
Ballmer and the Los Angeles Clippers were not immediately available for comment either.
TheStreet has reached out to Twitter to verify if the account is real and if Ballmer does indeed own the stake.
“It could be”, FBN Securities analyst Shebly Seyrafi said when asked if Ballmer’s stake could be indicative of confidence in Dorsey and his strategy.
If the news is real, then Ballmer has made a big bet on Twitter.
Ballmer is quite the eccentric, and when he left Microsoft in 2013 this was how he signed off.
At Twitter’s current $20bn market cap, a 4pc stake would be worth $800m.
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The Ballmer news caps a busy two weeks for Twitter. 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.
