Elon Musk Leaves Twitter Board: Elon Musk backed out of plans to join Twitter’s board this weekend.
Employees of Twitter Inc. would have Monday off, due to the company’s monthly ‘rest day’. But Elon Musk made it hard not to think about work.
Musk, the billionaire who announced this month that he would become Twitter’s largest individual shareholder, dropped a plan to join the company’s board of directors this weekend. Days earlier, Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal had laid the foundation for a friendly relationship by inviting Musk to join the board of directors. The company was so confident it would accept to list Musk as a board member on its investor relations website. Mr. Agrawal also hosted a question-and-answer session with Musk and associates this week.
For some employees, the turnaround spelled chaos: Musk would continue to tweet his criticisms of Twitter to more than 80 million followers on the site, with no obligation to act in the best interests of the company. The Q&A has been cancelled.
In his announcement late Sunday, Agrawal called Musk’s surprising decision good for Twitter but warned of “distractions ahead”.
The whiplash is overwhelming, employees said. The atmosphere among employees at Twitter is “super stressed,” with employees “working together to help each other through the week,” some said, asking not to be called by name while discussing internal company details.
In recent days, Musk has been tweeting product ideas, from eliminating ads for members of the Twitter subscription service to turning part of the San Francisco headquarters into a shelter for the homeless. Without a board seat, there are no restrictions on the number of shares he can buy or on his tweets; an employee expressed concern that Musk was “just getting started, which is unfortunate”. Several employees described the situation as a “sh-t show”.
However, some Twitter employees had mixed feelings about attending the ask-me-everything session with Musk. It might have clarified whether Musk had plans to be friendly or hostile with his bet, but it could also have raised more questions about how to respond to his whims.
“The immediate chilling effect of Musk was something that really bothered me,” Rumman Chowdhury, a director of Twitter’s AI research team, posted on the social media site.
Meanwhile, Musk’s fans have taken to Twitter to be critical of the product, following his lead. “Twitter has a wonderful culture of hilarious constructive criticism, and I saw it go quiet as his followers attacked employees,” Rumman Chowdhury said.
Musk’s sudden change of mind about the board seat also sparked speculation about his endgame. By not joining the board of directors, Musk, who owns only more than 9% of the company, is no longer subject to a standstill agreement that would have limited his stake to 14.9%.
“Elon’s decision doesn’t bode well for Twitter,” said Matt Navarra, a social media consultant. “Twitter found it difficult to have Trump on the platform. Elon Musk is going to be a nightmare for companies.”