So he wasn’t hacked. According to a source close to Steve Ballmer, the Twitter (TWTR) account that said he owns 4% of Twitter is one of Ballmer’s official accounts, and he has not been hacked, as had been thought.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the former Microsoft CEO has also confirmed via email that the account belongs to him and that he is now a significant shareholder in Twitter. As of late Friday, his account was also officially verified.
Ballmer’s stake means he now owns more of the real-time news service than co-founder and newly-minted CEO Jack Dorsey, who owns about 3% of the company. Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal recently increased his holdings in Twitter and owns about 5% of the stock.
Twitter shareholders seemed to like the news that the Microsoft billionaire has taken a stake in the company: The share price jumped by as much as 4% following the news, although it is still down by more than 40% from its high during the past year.
Here’s the Tweet heard ’round the world.
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