Elon Musk’s rejection of Twitter board seat could signal major move

By Art Moore(WND) The decision by billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk not to join Twitter’s board after buying a 9% stake in the company gives him the freedom to buy an even larger share of the social-media giant.

When Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder, he signed an agreement stipulating that as long as he served on the board, he could own no more than 14.9% of the company’s stock, pointed out journalist Yashar Ali.

It was Musk’s decision not to join the company’s board after it offered him a seat, reported the Daily Wire, citing a statement by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal.

“Elon Musk has decided not to join our board,” Agrawal said. “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.”

Over the weekend, Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, tweeted some of his ideas about changes he would like to see.

“Everyone who signs up for Twitter Blue (ie pays $3/month) should get an authentication checkmark,” Musk tweeted.

“Blue already has a modifiable 20 second time to edit tweet feature,” Musk wrote. “But it’s not very useful. I turned it off. Also, there is this annoying ‘Reader’ bar that now shows up below every tweet.”

Musk also suggested turning Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco into a “homeless shelter since no one shows up anyway.”

With his purchase of a $2.9 billion stake in the Twitter, which was announced April 4, Musk became the company’s largest shareholder, with four times more stock than Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey.

The SEC filing showed the purchased actually took place March 14.

Ten days later, Musk, a self-proclaimed “free-speech absolutist,” posted a Twitter poll asking users if they believed Twitter “rigorously adheres” to the principle that “free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.”

“The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully,” Musk wrote more than a week before his purchase was made public.

More than 70% of respondents, perhaps to no one’s surprise, voted “no,” saying they do not believe Twitter is a defender of free speech.

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