Elon Musk no longer joining Twitter board: CEO
Twitter's biggest shareholder, Elon Musk, will no longer be joining the company's board.
Elon Musk is no longer joining the board of Twitter, the CEO of the social media company, Parag Agrawal, confirmed late Sunday, in a reversal less than a week after announcing the Tesla chief would be appointed.
Musk was named to join the Twitter board after buying a major stake in the firm and becoming its largest shareholder.
"Elon has decided not to join our board," Agrawal tweeted.
He noted that "Elon's appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning he will no longer be joining the board."
"I believe this is for the best," the Twitter CEO said.
Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here. pic.twitter.com/lfrXACavvk
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 11, 2022
Twitter's biggest shareholder
Musk - the world's richest man and with more than 80 million followers on the microblogging platform - disclosed last week the purchase of 73.5 million shares - or 9.2% - of Twitter's common stock.
Agrawal had announced on Tuesday that Musk would be joining the board, describing him as "a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need."
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.
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
Musk himself tweeted that he was "Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!"
In his announcement Sunday, Agrawal shared a note he sent to Twitter, which said Musk's appointment to the board would be contingent on a background check and that he would have to act in the best interests of the company once appointed.
"Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input," he added.
"Is Twitter dying?"
In an apparent reaction to the news, Musk tweeted a smirking emoji, without any other comment.
Musk's decision not to take a seat on the Twitter board came after he tweeted Saturday asking whether the social media network was "dying" and to call out users such as singer Justin Bieber, who are highly followed but rarely post.
"Most of these 'top' accounts tweet rarely and post very little content," the Tesla boss wrote, captioning a list of the 10 profiles with the most followers -- a list which includes himself at number eight, with 81 million followers.
"Is Twitter dying?" he asked.
Most of these “top” accounts tweet rarely and post very little content.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2022
Is Twitter dying? https://t.co/lj9rRXfDHE
In his message, Agrawal wrote that “We were excited to collaborate and clear about the risks," and that “We have and always will value input from our shareholders, whether they are on our board or not."