- Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, tweeted on Tuesday that he was “off Twitter for a while.”
- GameStop, Etsy, and a Japanese video game maker have all seen their shares rise after recent tweets from Musk.
- This isn’t the first time Musk has said he’s taking a Twitter break. He also said he was leaving in June 2020 – he returned two days later.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
Billionaire Elon Musk, whose tweets have impacted the stock market over the past week, announced on Tuesday that he is taking a break from Twitter.
“Not on Twitter for a moment,” Musk tweeted to his 44.8 million followers, but gave no further details.
This break may not be long. The last time Musk announced his departure from Twitter was in June – he was gone two days. In 2019, he said he was quitting the social media site to return three days later.
Read more: SpaceX completes a massive new funding round. This is why investors are clamoring for one of the world’s most valuable startups.
The recent tweets from the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla have had a major impact on the stock market. On Sunday, Musk tweeted that he was “at Clubhouse tonight at 10 p.m. LA time. Shares of Clubhouse Media Group skyrocketed and were up about 45% Monday – even though this wasn’t the company Musk tweeted about. He was referring to the private audio app Clubhouse, known for hosting Silicon-Valley leaders and celebrities. .
Bitcoin rose a whopping 15% on Friday after Musk added “#bitcoin” to his Twitter bio. Musk later posted one tweet saying, “In retrospect it was inevitable.”
Gamestop stocks exploded by a further 157% on Wednesday January 27, following the tech billionaire tweeted “Gamestonk !!” in trade after hours on Tuesdays.
Online marketplace Etsy was up about 3.5% on Jan. 26, minutes after Musk tweeted “I love Etsy,” adding that he bought a hand-knitted “Marvin the Martian” wool helmet for his dog.
And on January 13, the shares of Bandai Namco, a Japanese video game maker, were up 4% after Musk tweeted a meme featuring a character from one of his games. “Hey you … Yes you queen … You’re gonna make it!” he tweeted, add heart emojis.