Elon Musk Rejects Offer To Join Twitter Board, May Acquire More Stake In Social Media Giant

In a dramatic turn of events, billionaire businessman Elon Musk, has rejected the offer to join the board of directors of popular microblogging site, Twitter.

Musk had acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter last week, making him the company’s biggest shareholder and after which, he was asked to join the board of the company.

Twitter CEO, Parag Agrawal, made this announcement in a note on his Twitter page, saying that Musk has decided not to join the board.

“Elon Musk has decided not to join our board. Here’s what I can share about what happened.

“The Board and I had many discussions about Elon joining the board, and with Elon directly. We were excited to collaborate and clear about the risks. We 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,” he said.

Agrawal went on to explain that the announcement he made on Tuesday where he said Musk would be joining the board was supposed to take effect from Saturday, April 9th after a background check and formal acceptance, however Musk shared on Saturday morning that he no longer wanted to be a member of the board.

“I believe this is for the best. 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,” he said.

The CEO concluded by saying that there will be distractions ahead but Twitter’s goals and priorities would remain the same.

“The decisions we make and how we execute is in our hands, no one else’s. Let’s tune out the noise, and stay focused on the work and what we’re building,” he said.

Agrawal did not give a reason behind Musk’s refusal to join the board but according to an SEC filing by the company, one of the conditions for Musk to have a seat at the board of directors’ table was that he would be unable to purchase more than 14.9% of the company’s stock.

“…so long as Mr. Musk is serving on the Board and for 90 days thereafter, Mr. Musk will not, either alone or as a member of a group, become the beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of the Company’s common stock outstanding at such time,” part of the filing read.

This simply means that with this rejection, Musk would be able to purchase as much stock in the company as he wants.

THE WHISTLER reported last week that Musk’s 9.2% stake in Twitter comprises 73.5 million shares which he bought for about $2.9 billion.

Musk had also accepted to be on the board of the Twitter last week when Agrawal first announced that he had been appointed to the board.

“I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.

“He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term. Welcome Elon!” Agrawal tweeted.

To which Musk replied, “Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”