Tesla CEO Elon Musk will no longer be joining Twitter’s board of directors.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal made the announcement on Sunday night.
“Elon Musk has decided not to join our board,” Agrawal tweeted, adding, “The Board and I had many discussions about Elon joining the board, and with Elon directly.”
He continued, “We were excited to collaborate and clear about the risks.”
Additionally, Agrawal said the company also “believed that having Elon as a fiduciary of the company where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interests of the company and all our shareholders, was the best path forward. The board offered him a seat.”
Agrawal went on to explain, “We announced on Tuesday that Elon would be appointed to the Board contingent on a background check and formal acceptance. Elon’s appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board. I believe this is for the best.”
He added, “We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our Board or not. Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input.”
Read his statement below:
Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here. pic.twitter.com/lfrXACavvk
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 11, 2022
The Twitter CEO noted there will be “distractions ahead” but encouraged employees to “tune out the noise, and stay focused on the work and what we’re building.”
Agrawal’s announcement sparked conversation on Twitter.
Read some of the reactions below:
The board seat was going to limit Elon Musk’s ability to buy any more than 15% of the stock—prevent a hostile takeover. This could either be Elon simply trolling and backing off or a sign of worse things to come. https://t.co/J9KGbNhE61
— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) April 11, 2022
(I feel like this probably has to do with the 14.9% ownership cap… could be that he just wants to go for a takeover) https://t.co/FgiL85YItD
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) April 11, 2022
So I guess using this platform to manipulate the price of this stock was maybe going to be frowned upon? https://t.co/4URxf7zyFz
— Dr. Angela Rasmussen (@angie_rasmussen) April 11, 2022
I wonder what real story is. First of all, there’s Elon‘s history of stock market manipulation which has gotten him investigated by the SEC repeatedly.
— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) April 11, 2022
Then there’s the fact that he flat out lied on forms when buying Twitter stock about intentions to be an activist investor. https://t.co/4ihAFeMnFX
Elon is just not that into you. https://t.co/Oo1lFUeQox
— Matthew Kolken (@mkolken) April 11, 2022
Now I'm no MBA, but maybe it was possible to foresee that inviting a notoriously capricious billionaire to join your board wouldn't actually be a great business idea. https://t.co/8HMj67QhUN
— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) April 11, 2022
Makes sense, since the board seat would have capped his shareholding at 15%. This dude's going for it all. https://t.co/OImoMyOYoO
— The Critical Drinker (@TheCriticalDri2) April 11, 2022
The announcement comes less than a week after it was reported Musk would be joining the board after purchasing a large stake in the company, as IJR reported.
“Looking forward to working with Parag and Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!” Musk said at the time.
