“Elon’s appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning he will no longer be joining the board,” Agrawal wrote. “I believe this is for the best.”
The shock transfer got here lower than per week after Twitter had mentioned the outspoken Tesla CEO would change into a board member, following his quietly amassing a 9.2 % stake within the social media firm. But Twitter staff and others agitated over the transfer, worrying Musk would possibly wield outsize energy to undo some moderation selections that have been made — together with banning former president Donald Trump.
Agrawal mentioned the corporate will “remain open to [Musk’s] input.” But he added, the “decisions we make and how we execute is in our hands, no one else’s,” and he urged workers to tune out “distractions.”
Twitter mentioned it might not remark Sunday night time past Agrawal’s assertion. Musk didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
He tweeted an emoji of a face with its hand over its mouth shortly after the news broke. That tweet appeared to have been deleted Monday, together with a number of others associated to Twitter that adopted his funding. Musk additionally preferred a tweet reply to Twitter’s CEO that opined on how Musk’s departure unfolded — theorizing that Musk was informed “to play nice and not speak freely” regardless of his push for what he considered “free speech.”
Sunday’s announcement capped off a rare and fast sequence of occasions that started weeks in the past when Agrawal mentioned he first engaged with Musk in talks to join Twitter’s board. Agrawal final week welcomed Musk, who he known as a “passionate believer and intense critic” to Twitter — reasonably than combat off an infiltration from an outdoor activist. Musk had solely months earlier tweeted a meme superimposing the Twitter CEO’s face over that of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
Musk is a prolific and controversial Twitter consumer who has amassed greater than 80 million followers on the social media web site. He makes use of his account as a bully pulpit to rally supporters of electrical automobile firm Tesla and aerospace outfit SpaceX. He tweets memes, conducts polls, and even engages in trolling of political figures and people he views as adversaries.
His penchant for tweeting has additionally landed him in sizzling water, together with a pricey settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk had to surrender his board chairmanship of Tesla — subjecting himself and the corporate to $20 million fines apiece — after he tweeted that he had secured funding to take the corporate non-public at $420 a share in 2018.
Musk initially filed to change into a so-called “passive” investor in Twitter, paperwork revealed, however the subsequent day paperwork was filed that may alter his standing to change into a board member.
“We were excited to collaborate and clear about the risks,” Agrawal wrote on Sunday. “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.” Agrawal mentioned Musk’s appointment was contingent on “a background check and formal acceptance.”
On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that Agrawal was scheduling a city corridor with Musk the place staff may ask him questions on his intentions and function.
Musk launched a ballot the day his funding grew to become public asking whether or not Twitter ought to add an edit button, one thing that may enable customers to edit tweets after posting them. Twitter later weighed in and mentioned such a function had been in improvement for months and was not influenced by a ballot.
Late final week he tweeted a meme of himself smoking a joint with the phrases “Twitter’s next board meeting is gonna be lit.”
Over the weekend, Musk took purpose at quite a few elements of the corporate, together with its reliance on promoting — even for its subscription service — and the prevalence of spam accounts. He posted information displaying Twitter’s prime accounts and requested “Is Twitter dying?”
Also on Saturday, the day his board appointment was purported to change into official, he even took an obvious dig on the firm’s indefinite distant work coverage. He launched a ballot asking whether or not the San Francisco workplace ought to be made right into a homeless shelter “since no one shows up anyway.” That tweet was deleted by Monday.
It had not been Musk’s first ballot about Twitter. Before his investments within the firm grew to become public, Musk carried out a sequence of polls seemingly geared toward influencing Twitter’s future.
He requested whether or not Twitter’s algorithm ought to be made public, or open-source; and a day later he requested whether or not Twitter “rigorously adheres” to free speech rules.
“Is a new platform needed?” he later requested.
Musk has emerged as one of many platform’s most high-profile critics, questioning its function in limiting who and who can not join.
After Trump was banned within the days following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, Musk wrote that “a lot of people are going to be super unhappy with West Coast high tech as the de facto arbiter of free speech.”
Musk’s board appointment restricted his stake within the firm at 14.9 %. Now that he is not going to have a board seat, he’s free to proceed to take a position past that determine.