Ron Baron, one of Tesla’s largest shareholders, said he views Elon Musk’s 9.2% stake in Twitter, as well as his seat on the board of directors as insignificant.
“I think it’s meaningless,” Baron told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday. “It’s a tiny investment. $3 billion for a man who is worth $300 billion. He has Tesla which is worth a trillion [and] on the way to being worth $3 or $4 trillion.”
Baron, the CEO of Baron Capital, said his asset management group decided not to buy any Twitter shares when it found out the Tesla CEO was investing in the company and had joined its board. A spokesperson for Baron declined to comment. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Twitter’s stock soared after Musk disclosed his stake in the company. Shares of the social media company are trading around $47 per share up over 20% from Friday’s close.
Baron also pushed back against any concerns that Musk’s involvement with Twitter could have repercussions for Tesla.
“When you’re focusing on something that’s meaningless and will never have any impact on anything, it just takes away from looking at the big picture,” he said.
On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that Musk’s Twitter announcement could spur further investigations from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after the billionaire reportedly filed his disclosure with the SEC 11 days late.
Baron is not the only person with close ties to Tesla to comment on Musk’s decision to join Twitter’s board of directors. On Tuesday, former Tesla board member Steve Westly told Bloomberg Musk would “shake things up” at Twitter.
