NEW DELHI: Twitter named Elon
Musk to its board a day after it was disclosed that the Tesla CEO was the social media company’s largest shareholder.
The appointment ends the possibility of Musk mounting a takeover of Twitter, capping his ownership at 14. 9% during his time on the board, according to a filing with the US
SEC on Tuesday. He currently owns 9. 2%. Twitter’s shares jumped 7% as the US market opened.Musk is one of the biggest personalities on Twitter and has regularly run into trouble on the platform. He is currently seeking to exit a 2018 deal with the SEC that put controls in place related to his tweeting about Tesla.
Twitter CEO
Parag Agrawal said in a tweet that he’s “excited” about appointing Musk to the board. “He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long term. ”
While it’s still unclear exactly what Musk’s intentions are with Twitter, so far the result of his affiliation has only been good for the beleaguered company, whose shares have tumbled from their 2021 record as investors balked at a combination of a high valuation and potentially disappointing user growth. But the shares rose 27% yesterday as buyers bet Musk can jump start Twitter by virtue of his clout as the biggest shareholder and as an influential user on the platform, where he has 80. 5 million followers.
“This was a friendly move by the Twitter board to embrace Musk with open arms as clearly a passive stake is just the start of his involvement in Twitter,” Dan
Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities said.
On Monday evening, Musk asked Twitter users in a poll if they wanted to have an edit button. Last year, he polled Twitter users on whether he should sell 10%
of his stake in Tesla, which a majority supported.
Twitter co-founder
Jack Dorsey stepped down as its chief executive last year and will leave the board when his term ends this year. Dorsey, who is a friend of Musk’s, said in a tweet that he is “really happy” that Musk is joining the board.
Musk’s existing board appointments include Tesla and SpaceX, the two most highprofile companies he leads. Musk’s term on the board is set to expire at
Twitter’s 2024 annual meeting.
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