Elon Musk has decided not to join the board of Twitter.
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His appointment was due to take effect over the weekend after he bought a 9.2 per cent stake in the social media platform last week.
But the company’s chief executive Parag Agrawal has today (April 11) announced that Musk “has decided not to join our board”.
“The Board and I had many discussions about Elon joining the board and with Elon directly,” he wrote in a lengthy tweet. “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.”
Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here. pic.twitter.com/lfrXACavvk
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 11, 2022
Addressing Musk’s decision to decline, Agrawal continued: “I believe this is for the best. 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.
“There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged. The decisions we make and how we execute is in our hands, no one else’s. Let’s tune out of the noise, and stay focused on the work and what we’re building.”
Agrawal’s tweet came after the Tesla chief suggested changes to the Twitter Blue premium subscription service, including slashing its price, banning advertising and giving the option to pay in the cryptocurrency dogecoin, over the weekend, The Guardian reported.
Musk also asked his more than 81 million followers whether Twitter is “dying” and if its headquarters should be turned into a homeless shelter.
And he created a poll asking whether the letter “w” should be removed from the Twitter, with the only options being “yes” and “of course”.
After it was announced that Musk would not be joining the board, he tweeted and then removed a hand-over-mouth emoji.
Musk has had a muddied history with Twitter. In December, after it was announced that Agrawal was taking over from Dorsey as Twitter’s CEO, Musk posted a meme showing Agrawal as Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and Dorsey as Soviet secret police head Nikolai Yezhov being shoved into water.
And earlier this year, he criticised Twitter’s announcement about NFT profile pictures, calling it “annoying”.
Last week, Musk was also mocked after he said that he refused to enter German nightclub Berghain after taking offence to the night spot’s ‘PEACE’ sign.
