Business Insider
But Twitter’s CEO said Sunday night that Musk had ultimately decided against taking his board seat.This leaves Musk free to try and acquire Twitter if he decides to go down that route.
In an extraordinary U-turn late on Sunday it emerged that Elon Musk, Tesla CEO and the world’s richest person, would not be joining Twitter’s board.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal made the announcement on Twitter just five days after excitedly announcing that Musk would become a director. Agrawal saidTwitter offered the board seat to Musk on Saturday, but the billionaire turned it down that same morning.
Musk’s decision seems to have blindsided Twitter: at the time of writing, Musk remained listed on the company’s website as a member of its board of directors.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said the unexpected move could signal a more aggressive approach from Musk towards buying Twitter stock.
“This now goes from a Cinderella story with Musk joining the Twitter board and keeping his stake under 14.9%, helping move Twitter strategically forward, to likely a ‘Game of Thrones’ battle between Musk and Twitter,” Ives told Insider.
He added there was a “high likelihood that Elon takes a more hostile stance towards Twitter and further builds his active stake in the company.”
Musk revealed in early April that he’d amassed a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him the company’s largest shareholder.
Joining Twitter’s board would have limited him to buying 14.9% of the company, as outlined in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing signed by Musk.
As he is no longer joining the board, Musk can buy as much Twitter stock as he pleases – meaning he could attempt to acquire the company if he so wishes.
It’s also possible a board seat would have constrained Musk’s capacity for tweeting…
