What you need to know
- Elon Musk will no longer join Twitter's board of directors.
- Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has confirmed Musk's change of plan.
- He was supposed to officially serve on Twitter's board on April 9 after buying a 9.2% stake in the company.
In a shocking turn of events, Elon Musk has backed out of his plan to take a seat on Twitter's board of directors, CEO Parag Agrawal confirmed late Sunday.
The change comes only a few days after Agrawal announced that Musk would be joining Twitter's board following his purchase of 9.2% of the company’s common stock. The business magnate would have officially assumed his new role on April 9, but he walked back his plan on the same day.
"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," Agrawal said in a statement he shared on Twitter.
As of this writing, Musk is also no longer listed as a board member on Twitter's investor relations website.
"Elon’s appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same day that he will no longer be joining the board," Agrawal added. "I believe this is for the best."
Musk's recent share purchase granted him ownership of 73,486,938 shares worth $2.89 billion. It also made him Twitter's largest individual shareholder.
He would also have served as a Class II director until 2024. However, joining Twitter's board would have capped that ownership at 14.9% of the company’s common stock.
The Tesla CEO previously revealed his plan to introduce "significant improvements" to the social media platform over the coming months. This was in response to Agrawal's tweet confirming his appointment to the board.
Musk has been publicly tweeting his ideas for Twitter since his major share purchase. He suggested adding an edit button to the service, a much-requested feature that has actually been in the works since last year. He also seems keen on giving a verification checkmark to anyone who pays for the Twitter Blue service.
"We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our Board or not," Agrawal said in a brief note to employees. "Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input."
It remains to be seen whether all of Musk's suggestions will still make it to the platform now that he is no longer joining its board.
