Twitter Shares Spike 4.85% In The Wake Of Ballmer’s Stake

Turns out the Ballmer Peak is real.

Shares in Twitter spiked 4.85 percent today, closing at $31.15 per share. Trading above the $30 mark is an important psychological threshold for Twitter. Put another way, as $40 is to Microsoft, $30 is to Twitter.

What happened? Former Microsoft CEO and current eccentric sports fan Steve Ballmer announced that he has acquired a 4 percent minority stake in the social company. That news, coupled to the modestly ebullient reception of fired former CEO Jack Dorsey’s return to that role once again were sufficient tender for a fresh rally.

Twitter closed the day worth just north of $21 billion. In case you were curious, 4 percent of, say, $20 billion is $800 million. That means that Ballmer’s bet is no small wager — it’s a stiff investment. He can afford it, of course, but that doesn’t diminish the implied confidence that Ballmer has in Twitter.

Jokes aside, having both Ballmer and Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal pick up stakes worth hundreds of millions of dollars is good news for Twitter; patient investors can a lower beta make.