Alex Bruno
After Musk, the 50-year-old entrepreneur of Tesla and SpaceX, became the social media platform’s top stakeholder with a 9.2 percent stake, CEO Parag Agrawal said on Sunday that Musk had refused an offer to join the board of directors. “Here’s what I can disclose about what occurred,” Agrawal, 37, said in an email to Twitter staff that he also tweeted. “The Board and I had several conversations regarding Elon joining the board, as well as personally with Elon.
We were both enthusiastic to cooperate and aware of the dangers. We also felt that appointing Elon as a business fiduciary, in which he, like other board members, is obligated to act in the company’s and all of our shareholders’ best interests, was the best road ahead. He was offered a seat by the board.” “We announced on Tuesday that Elon will be named to the Board of Directors, subject to a background check and official acceptance,” Agrawal said.
“Elon’s nomination to the board was set to take effect [Saturday], but he announced that he would no longer be joining the board that morning. This, I feel, is for the best. Whether or whether our stockholders are on our Board, we have always valued their opinion. Elon is our largest shareholder, and we will continue to listen to his suggestions.” “There will be diversions ahead,” he said, “but our aims and priorities remain intact.” “We are solely responsible for the judgments we make and the manner in which we carry them out. Let’s block out the distractions and keep focused on the task at hand.”
According to Forbes, CNBC, and NPR, the deal Musk would have had to sign in order to win a board membership stipulates that he couldn’t own more than 14.9 percent of Twitter’s stock. Musk may now buy as much shares as he likes after declining the offer, possibly exposing the firm to a takeover.
“This has now gone from a Cinderella narrative with Musk joining the Twitter board to a Game of Thrones war between Musk and Twitter,” according to Forbes, citing Dan Ives, a Wedbush analyst who covers Musk’s electric vehicle business Tesla.
According to Forbes, Musk is the world’s wealthiest person, with a net worth of $262.6 billion as of Monday. However, most of his money is in Tesla shares, and he’d “likely want to link up with a private equity company or some other financier” to launch a takeover attempt.
Musk’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.
Musk offered ideas for the firm in a series of since-deleted tweets over the weekend, prompting speculation of a takeover. According to CNBC, among his proposals were a redesign of Twitter Blue, the company’s new subscription package, and the removal of advertisements. Musk has also raised concerns about the platform’s free-speech policies.
“Does Twitter have a future?” Musk posted the question in a Saturday tweet that was still up on his website Monday afternoon. Some of the platform’s most popular accounts “tweet seldom and upload very little material,” according to the article.
In response, Twitter’s global director of culture and community, God-Is Rivera, disagreed with Musk. She wrote, “Come on now, it isn’t.” “It’s about redefining what it means to be on top,” Rivera continued. “You should know as a regular tweeter that follower numbers isn’t always king. This app is thriving because of the people that drive dialogues ahead, establish equality among groups, and give fresh viewpoints.”
