Musk would have been appointed to Twitter’s board of directors on Saturday, but the richest man in the world told the company on the same day that he would not, in fact, be taking the board seat.
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Twitter shares fell in premarket trading on Monday after CEO Parag Agrawal announced that Elon Musk abandoned his plan to join the company’s board of directors.
The social media company’s stock is down over 8% to less than $43 a share as of 4:00 a.m. EST before recovering slightly.
On April 5, Musk and Twitter announced that he would be joining Twitter’s board of directors. A day earlier, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX announced through financial filings that he is Twitter’s largest shareholder, owning a 9.2% stake in the company.
Musk would have been appointed to Twitter’s board of directors on Saturday, but the richest man in the world told the company on the same day that he would not, in fact, be taking the board seat. Twitter’s investor relations page has yet to be updated and Musk is still listed as a board member.
“Elon has decided not to join our board,” Agrawal wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “I sent a quick message to the company to share with you all here.”
In the statement, Agrawal said Musk remains Twitter’s largest shareholder and the company remains open to its contributions.
“We were thrilled to work together and be aware of the risks,” he wrote. “We also felt that having Elon as a trustee of the company, where he, like all board members, must act in the best interests of the company and all of our shareholders is the best way forward.”
The Twitter CEO didn’t say whether Musk gave specific reasons why he changed his mind about taking on the new commitment.
Timeline of Events
Twitter stock rose 4% on Tuesday after the board’s announcement.
On Monday, after Musk’s holding was first announced, Twitter had its best day since the company went public in 2013, soaring more than 27%.
Throughout the weekend, without revealing that he had turned down the Twitter board seat, Musk released a series of ideas to transform the social media company and its products.
One of the suggestions was a crude joke in the form of a Twitter poll. Musk asked people to vote on whether Twitter should drop the “w” from his name. That would turn Twitter into “Titter,” a nod to female anatomy.
Musk’s more serious suggestions included letting Twitter Blue subscribers pay with Dogecoin, getting an “authenticate” tick, and keeping Twitter Blue ad-free.
“Anyone who signs up for Twitter Blue (i.e. pays $3 a month) should get an authentication tick,” Musk wrote. “And no ads. The power of corporations to dictate policy is greatly enhanced when Twitter relies on advertising money to survive.”
Musk also suggested that Twitter turn its San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter “since nobody’s showing up anyway.”
He also suggested that Twitter user counts were being inflated by bots and once asked if Twitter is dying.
— Additional reporting by Lora Kolodny.