Steve Ballmer has bigger stake in Twitter than Jack Dorsey

Steve Ballmer has scooped up a 4 percent stake in Twitter — a surprise move that makes the former Microsoft boss a bigger shareholder than Chief Executive Jack Dorsey.

“Glad I bought 4% past few months,” said Ballmer, whose stake, surpassing Dorsey’s 3 percent stake, was worth $840 million at the close of Friday trading.

Twitter shares jumped 4.9 percent to $31.15 on the news — their highest level since July 30.

Billionaire Ballmer, who bought the Los Angeles Clippers last year, also gave props to Dorsey for making Twitter “leaner, more focused.”

Last week, Dorsey laid off 8 percent of Twitter’s workforce, just days after being named permanent chief executive.

Ballmer went on to praise Dorsey for a “good job” with the rollout last week of Twitter Moments, a new tab for following key news stories that’s meant to make the service more accessible to mainstream users.

Dorsey, who is also CEO of payments company Square, which just filed to go public, is under pressure from Wall Street to grow Twitter’s stagnant user base.

Ballmer added that he “like[s]” a disclosure last week by Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal that he owned more than 5 percent of Twitter.

On Oct. 5, Ballmer had called Twitter “remarkable” in a tweet that didn’t mention his investment.

“There is amazing chance to innovate and grow,” Ballmer wrote at the time. “Excited to see progress with @jack as CEO Impressive dude!”