Yahoo Finance Elon Musk will no longer join Twitter’s board
Elon Musk has quit Twitter (TWTR) before he even had a chance to start as the billionaire has rejected a board seat.
Musk, who disclosed a 9.2% stake in Twitter just a few days ago, was offered a place on the company's board, with his appointment to become effective on Saturday.
But Twitter’s boss, Parag Agrawal, said in a tweet that Musk had declined the offer.
Read more: Elon Musk to join Twitter board
“Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board,” Agrawal said on Sunday.
“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.”
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
The announcement was so abrupt that Musk was still listed on Twitter's board of directors on its website as of early Monday.
Musk, whose net worth is estimated to be around $274bn (£210bn) by Forbes, responded only with a cryptic "face-with-hand-over-mouth" emoticon on Twitter. The tweet has since been deleted.
Had he taken a board seat, he would have been limited in how much of the company's shares he could own, with a 14.9% cap.
Read more: Twitter shares soar as Elon Musk takes $2.9bn stake
The U-turn comes after Musk suggested changes to Twitter Blue premium subscription service, including slashing its price, banning advertising and giving the option to pay in the cryptocurrency dogecoin (DOGE-USD).
Musk is the largest shareholder in the company, with more than four times the 2.25% shareholding of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
The Tesla (TSLA) boss is an avid user of Twitter, having used the social media platform to make announcements about his company and a variety of issues to his more than 80 million followers.
A day after becoming the largest shareholder, he asked users if they wanted an edit button, something the site has been working on.
Twitter shares, which jumped 27% on 4 April after Musk disclosed his stake, lost 7.5% between then and Friday's close.
