Steve Ballmer, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team and the former CEO of Microsoft, revealed in a tweet that he has a four percent stake at Twitter, Inc.
Forbes adds that the revelation of Ballmer has boosted Twitter's stock by nearly five percent on Friday, October 16, 2015.
Ballmer announced in his tweet that he has bought a stake in the social media company a few months ago while praising the latest move of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
"Good job @twitter,@twittermoments innovation, @jack Ceo, leaner, more focused," he tweeted. "Glad I bought 4% past few months."
The Huffington Post adds that tweet came from an unverified account that created some confusion in the media and among investors.
Ballmer already has two existing Twitter accounts, @stevebmicrosoft, and @clippersteveb.
The Huffington Post adds that Twitter had verified the @Steven_Ballmer account, putting a blue check next to his name that lets investors and the public know that the account is Ballmer himself, or someone authorized to tweet in his name.
Journalists were a little confident in the account prior to Twitter's verification as Ballmer has been recently promoting the new account using his existing ones.
A spokesperson for the Clippers has confirmed with Forbes Ballmer's stake in Twitter.
His stake is valued at about $800 million.
Ballmer's purchase makes him the third biggest individual shareholder in Twitter, according to the Huffington Post.
Evan Williams, the co-founder of Twitter, owns 6.8 percent and Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal owns more than five percent. Dorsey holds a three percent stake in Twitter.
The Huffington Post adds that it is still unclear whether Ballmer's investment in Twitter is a wise decision.
The company's new Moments and Dorsey's latest moves to attract and retain more users, if successful, could benefit Ballmer's investment in the long run.
Forbes estimates Ballmer's net worth to be near $23 billion.
He retired as CEO of Microsoft in February 2014 and in August closed a $2 billion purchase of the Clippers.
