Twitter has come a long way in the last seven years as a social media network. The company has redefined how news is delivered and has added a “second screen” means by which people watch television and interact with others.
Icahn joins Twitter, promises to release next big investment idea via social network
Now they can add Carl Icahn to their ranks of over 200 million regular users. The market-moving investment mogul signed up for a Twitter account in the last month and his friend Karen Finerman promises the 77 year-old multi-billionaire is promising to release his next big investment idea via the social Network.
According to Finerman, a CNBC contributor and hedge-fund manager, @Carl_C-Icahn will announce his idea through a series of hints that will ultimately guide people along as if on a treasure hunt. She made no mention of when to expect this. To date, Icahn has limited himself to linking articles and wishing people a Happy Independence Day.
As many people Tweet before releasing breaking news via other channels, investors have been following Twitter for some time now. In fact, the SEC was forced in April to allow companies to announce non-public information through social media in compliance with Regulation Fair Disclosure.
This decision and announcement came on the heels of Elon Musk, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)’s CEO, tweeting that Tesla had enjoyed a week of positive cash-flow last year, and Reed Hasting, CEO of Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), tweeting that the company had reached 1 billion hours of streaming content for a month last year.
Icahn promises a “treasure hunt”
But Icahn trumps these two in his market moving potential and has 20,518 as of this writing. Presumably, this number will grow significantly when the fact that he’s promising a “treasure hunt” becomes more common knowledge.
Warren Buffett, David Einhorn, Leon Cooperman and Daniel Loeb have never used Twitter to make a big announcement before via Twitter. Rather these gentleman have used filings and investment conferences to make their announcements. Perhaps this will now change given Icahn’s embrace of Twitter.
Warren Buffett made news when he joined Twitter three months ago but has largely refrained from using it with a total of three tweets since announcing himself to the Twitterverse.
Numerous employers bar their employees from using Twitter on the desktop leaving them to potentially get in trouble with compliance officers when they access it from their mobiles. Icahn’s Twitter presence may force them to reevaluate their stance.
