Elon Musk won’t be joining Twitter’s board after all

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced in a letter to the company that Elon Musk is no longer joining Twitter’s board of directors. Agrawal confirmed last week that Musk will be appointed to the board of directors after him Purchasing 9.2 percent of the company’s sharesBut now he says Musk has decided not to take the seat.

“We announced on Tuesday that Elon will be appointed to the Board of Directors based on a background check and formal acceptance,” Agrawal said. He writes. “Elon’s appointment to the Board was officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared the same morning that he will not be joining the Board of Directors anymore. I think this is for the best. We have and will always appreciate the input from our shareholders whether they are members of our Board or not. Elon is our largest contributor and we will remain open to his contribution.”

Joining Twitter’s board of directors would have prevented Musk from owning more than 14.9% of the company. By the time Musk’s purchase became public knowledge, his stake in Twitter was $2.89 billion.

Since Musk’s Twitter stake was exposed, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO has been publicly tweeting his thoughts for the company — although, as always with Musk, it’s hard to know when he’s trolling. He had posted a survey about whether Twitter should have an edit button the day before the company confirmed it In fact it will add the long-awaited feature. Recently – on the same day apparently telling Twitter he wouldn’t be joining the board, in fact – he tweeted suggestions like Including Twitter Blue paid check marks, or Transformation San Francisco headquarters from Twitter to a homeless shelter “because no one showed up anyway.”

Here is Agrawal’s full message:

Elon Musk has decided not to join our Board of Directors. Here’s what I can share about what happened.

We had several discussions with the Board of Directors about Elon joining the Board of Directors, as well as directly with Elon. We were excited about collaboration and clarity about the risks. We also believed that having Elon as the company’s fiduciary agent where he, like all directors, must act in the interests of the company and all of our shareholders, was the best way forward. The council offered him a seat.

We announced on Tuesday that Elon will be appointed to the Board of Directors subject to a background check and formal admission. Elon’s appointment to the Board of Directors was scheduled to officially become effective 4/9, the effective date was 4/9, but Elon shared on the same day that he would no longer be joining the Board of Directors. I think this is for the better. We have and will always appreciate input from our shareholders whether or not they are members of our Board of Directors. Elon is our largest contributor and we will remain open for his input.

There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged. The decisions we make and how we implement them are in our hands, and no one else. Let’s tune in to the noise, and stay focused on work and what we’re building.