After recently purchasing a 9% stake in Twitter, Tesla Inc. CEO has also made up his mind to join its board of directors to make “significant improvements” to the popular social media platform” as he said in a recent tweet while responding to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal.
I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2023
Welcoming Musk to Twitter’s board of directors, Agrawal had tweeted that “Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear that he would bring great value to the board.”
Musk responded by tweeting, “Looking forward to working with Parag and Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”
Also, as part of the deal to join Twitter’s board of directors, Tesla’s CEO has agreed not to increase his stakes higher than 14.9% in the microblogging platform.
With his recent purchase of a 9.2% stake in the microblogging giant, Musk has already become the largest shareholder in the social media company.
However, many believe that Musk’s Twitter move may not prove as easy as it seems to be going for the time being. Tesla’s CEO might already be on the Security and Exchange Commission’s radar. American antitrust laws require mandatory disclosure if an individual or entity acquires more than a 5% stake in another market entity.
The filing records on the commission’s portal show that Musk has only filed the form 13G and not 13D. If a buyer purchases a more than 5% stake in a company, he must file the form 13D stating his intentions.
Now, as it is official that Musk will be joining Twitter’s board of directors, it will be worth seeing the reaction of the Security and Exchange Commission.
Interestingly, Musk publicly criticized Twitter on free speech a few days back.
In a series of tweets on the micro-blogging site, Musk questioned Twitter’s commitment to free speech and even asked users if they wanted a new platform.
Saying that “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy,” Musk asked users if they believe that “Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?”
“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?” Musk said, adding, if “a new platform needed?”
He also initiated a Twitter poll later asking users if they wanted an edit button on the site. His poll saw an overwhelming response as most users said they had been waiting for an edit button for so long.
Now, with Musk on Twitter’s board of directors, many believe that he will actively represent and voice Twitter users’ opinions and sentiments in board decisions.
Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey also endorsed the deal. Praising Musk, he wished that Musk and Agrawal duo would bring positive changes to the microblogging platform.
Musk’s Twitter move has rallied stocks of not only Twitter and Tesla but also of dogecoin, the cryptocurrency supported by Musk. Twitter’s stock went up by nearly 25% on Monday, and Tesla’s stock rose by 3.4% as Musk’s Twitter acquisition broke out in the public domain.
With a wealth of over $216 Billion, Elon Musk is the richest American per a recently released world’s billionaires list by Forbes.