Elon Musk's Twitter Journey Takes Another Turn

He won't join the board after all, and shares were dropping on the news
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 11, 2022 5:42 AM CDT
Elon Musk Does About Face on Twitter
Elon Musk in a 2020 file photo. He won't be joining Twitter's board after all.   (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

Last week around this time, Twitter stock was soaring on news that Elon Musk was joining the board. This week, the exact opposite. In a surprise, the company said Sunday that Musk will not become a board member after all, reports CNBC. The company's shares fell about 8% overnight, though the fall seems to have stopped. And they're still higher than they were since the Musk drama began unfolding. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal did not reveal why Musk would no longer be a board member, though he suggested it was Musk's own decision. "I believe this is for the best," he said in a note posted to Twitter, per Reuters. "There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged."

A week ago, Musk revealed that he had picked up 9% of Twitter stock, making him the company's biggest shareholder. The following day, he and the company said he would join the board, a move that was supposed to have happened over the weekend. In fact, Reuters notes that Musk was listed as a board member early Monday, a sign of the abruptness of the reversal. One bit of caution for Twitter: Had Musk been on the board, he would have been restricted to owning 14.9% of Twitter stock. Now, he is not bound by that restriction. Musk has not elaborated, though the AP notes he posted a meme tweet reading, "In all fairness, your honor, my client was in goblin mode." (Musk has been publicly floating possible Twitter changes.)

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