Elon Musk’s stint on Twitter’s board of directors has ended before it even began. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO has scrapped plans to buff his resumé with a seat on Twitter’s board, though his status as the company’s biggest shareholder will still give him some influence over the platform.
The change in plans was announced by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal on Sunday night. In an internal note he subsequently posted to Twitter, Agrawal stated that Musk had directly discussed joining Twitter’s board with them, and that the board had offered him a seat, but that he pulled out at the last minute on the day he was to be officially appointed.
“We were excited to collaborate [with Musk] and clear about the risks,” said Agrawal. “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.”
Legally, a fiduciary is someone entrusted to act on behalf of someone else, and who must put that person’s best interests ahead of their own.
“We announced on Tuesday that Elon would be appointed to the Board contingent on a background check and formal acceptance,” Agrawal continued. “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.”
Though Agrawal did not provide a reason why Musk backed down, and Musk has not commented publicly, it’s reasonable to speculate that the restrictions placed on Twitter’s board members may have been a contributing factor.
Musk recently purchased a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, sending its shares skyrocketing up 27 percent. However, as a board member, Musk would have been prohibited from acquiring a stake in Twitter larger than 14.9 percent until his term ended in 2024. That may have been a nuisance for Musk’s investment plans, and would also cut off the possibility of large future purchases which could boost Twitter’s share price further.
In any case, despite how much work apparently went into Twitter’s discussions with Musk, Agrawal doesn’t seem too broken up about it all falling through.
“I believe this is for the best,” he said. “We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our Board or not. Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input.”
Musk hasn’t been shy about offering his input on the bird app either, publicly musing about the possibility of adding features such as an edit button or authentication checkmarks for people who subscribe to Twitter Blue. Twitter is working on adding an edit button, but notes that it was in the works long before Musk just tweeted it out.
