Elon Musk, the majority shareholder of Twitter and founder of Tesla, will not be joining the board of the social media firm days after it was confirmed he would do so.
This u-turn was announced by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. His Twitter statement reads:
“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 are 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.
“We announced on Tuesday that Elon would be appointed to the Board contingent on a background check and formal acceptance. Elon’s appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board. I believe this is for the best. We have and will always value input from our stakeholders whether they are on our Board or not. Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input.
“There will be no distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged. 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.”
Musk recently disclosed he had purchased more than a 9% stake in Twitter, making him the company’s largest shareholder. As part of the deal for Musk to join the board, the Tesla CEO had agreed not to acquire more than 14.9% of the company’s shares while he remained on the board.
