Elon Musk will not be joining the board of directors of the social media platform Twitter. The announcement was made by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal early Monday morning. “Elon’s appointment to the board was set to take effect on April 9, but Elon announced that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board.” “I think it’s for the best,” Agrawal said.
Musk had purchased a 9% stake in the social media platform for approximately $3 billion and was set to join the board of directors. He has, however, been ‘trolling’ on Twitter for the past few days, polling the public on issues ranging from instituting an edit button to removing the ‘w’ from Twitter and converting the Twitter HQ in San Francisco into a homeless shelter.
Twitter entered into a letter agreement with Musk on April 4, stating that the company will appoint Musk to its Board of Directors as a Class II director with a term expiring in 2024. Musk will not become the beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of Twitter’s common stock outstanding at that time, either alone or as part of a group, including through derivative securities, swaps, or hedging transactions.
Interestingly, Musk tweeted last month about the social media company’s role in upholding free speech principles. “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy,” Musk said on March 25 while retweeting a poll he launched to determine whether “Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle.” Over 70% of those polled voted against Twitter.
