Twitter shares fell after Elon Musk decided not to join its boarda surprising twist to a week-long saga that wowed the tech community and sparked fresh speculation about the company’s future. Musk had “lots of discussions” with Twitter directors, but the businessman ultimately turned down his offer of a board seat, CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted. According to the CEO, Musk informed Twitter of his decision on April 9.the same day he was scheduled to formally join the board.
Twitter shares fell about 2.9% in premarket trading Monday in New York. The drop erased part of a week of earnings after Musk revealed he had taken a stake, and investors seemed to welcome his investment.
“I think this is for the best,” the Twitter CEO said in an internal memo shared Sunday night. “There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged.”
The abrupt change ignites fresh speculation about Musk’s intentions for Twitter since revealed that it had acquired a stake of just over 9%, becoming the largest individual shareholder of the social media giant. If he does not join the board, Musk would not be subject to an agreement to keep his stake at no more than 14.9%.
The billionaire behind Tesla Inc. and SpaceX has spoken about what changes he would consider to the social media platform. Musk wasted no time appealing to users about possible moves to turn Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter and add an edit button for tweets, to give premium users automatic checkmarks. . Those open musings even attracted Amazon.com Inc. founder and space rival Jeff Bezos, among other high-profile personalities.
Musk posted a single emoji after the Twitter CEO reveal, a smiling face with a hand over its mouth. The tweet was deleted hours later without explanation.
Musk and Twitter executives were expected to host a town hall for employees this week, though it’s unclear if that will happen. Representatives for Musk and Twitter declined to comment.
Musk’s tweets have captivated the social media sphere since the revelation of his involvement. Twitter announced shortly after that the businessman would join its board of directors, sparking widespread debate. Several market watchers tweeted that Musk could remain outside the board to avoid potential conflicts of interest in the futureif you were considering increasing your share of Twitter or buying it outright.
Musk, CEO of automaker Tesla, is the world’s richest man, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is also one of the biggest personalities on Twitter and has regularly generated controversy on the platform.
The billionaire could face the scrutiny from US regulators by disclosing his massive stake days later than regulations allow, and because he disclosed it in a filing typically reserved for passive investments. Getting up on the Twitter board so quickly after the disclosure could have complicated that process.
Musk is already trying to get out of a 2018 settlement with the SEC that put in place controls related to his earlier tweet about Tesla.
Citing internal company messages, the Washington Post reported that some workers in recent days have raised concerns on employee Twitter Slack channels that Musk could damage company culture as well as make it harder for people to do their jobs. .
“Let’s turn off the noise and concentrate on the work and on what we are building”Agrawal said in his Sunday memo to employees.
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