Elon Musk attends the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. Patrick Pleul/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
April 11 – Twitter Inc. (TWTR.N)’s largest shareholder, Elon Musk, has decided not to join its board, Chief Executive Parag Agrawal said late Sunday.
Musk, who describes himself as a free speech absolutist and has been critical of Twitter, announced a 9.1% stake on April 4 and said he plans to make significant improvements to the social media platform.
His appointment to the board was due to take effect Saturday and would have prevented him from beneficially owning more than 14.9% of the common stock.
But “Elon announced that same morning that he would not be rejoining the board,” Agrawal said in a note on Twitter. (https://bit.ly/3usFqhe)
“I think that’s for the best. We have and always will value the contributions of our shareholders, whether they are on our Board of Directors or not. Elon is our largest shareholder and we will remain open to his contributions,” Agrawal said.
Musk limited his response to a hand-over-mouth emoticon face on Twitter. Tesla did not immediately respond to an email sent to the company seeking comment from Musk.
News of Musk’s takeover of a board seat caused some Twitter employees to panic over the future possibility of the social media company moderating content, company insiders told Reuters. Continue reading
Before Musk took a stake, he conducted a Twitter poll asking users if they believed Twitter upheld the principle of free speech.
A day after becoming the largest shareholder, he launched another poll asking users if they would like an edit button, a long-awaited feature the social media platform has been working on. Continue reading
The Tesla boss also asked users in a poll whether Twitter’s headquarters should be turned into a homeless shelter, a plan backed by Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) founder Jeff Bezos. Continue reading
On Saturday, he proposed changes to Twitter Blue’s premium subscription service, including a price drop, an advertising ban and the ability to pay in cryptocurrency Dogecoin. Continue reading
Twitter stock, which rose 27% on April 4 after Musk announced his stake, has since lost 7.5% through Friday’s close.
“There will be distractions, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged,” Agrawal said in his Sunday note. “Let’s turn off the noise and focus on the work and what we’re building.”
Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru; Edited by Arun Koyyur