Elon Musk Refuses To Join Twitter Board, But Stocks Are Up 10 Percent Again

JAKARTA - Elon Musk has finally chosen not to join the Twitter board. This was confirmed by the CEO of the social network, Parag Agrawal, Sunday, April 10. Musk turned down an earlier offer from Agrawal for him to take a seat on Twitter's board.

“We announced on Tuesday that Elon will be appointed to the Board based on a background check and formal admission. Elon's appointment to the board will be officially effective on 4/9, but Elon said the same morning that he will no longer be joining the board," Agrawal said in a tweet.

“We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our Board or not. Elon is the largest shareholder and we will remain open to his input,” added Agrawal.

Disclosure from Agrawal, who said last week he had been involved with Musk for "several weeks" when announcing his appointment to the board. This follows an unusual tweet from the SpaceX CEO over the weekend, in which he polled his more than 80 million followers.

The poll also briefly questioned whether Twitter was dying, citing the low frequency of tweets from some of the social network's most popular personalities. Musk also asked his followers if Twitter should turn its San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter.

Joining the Twitter board would require Musk to limit his overall ownership of the social network to 14.9%.

“I'm so excited Elon is joining the Twitter board! He cares deeply about our world and Twitter's role in it," said Jack Dorsey, co-founder, and former chief executive of Twitter, about the news of Musk joining Twitter's board.

"Parag and Elon both lead with their hearts, and they will make for an incredible team," said Dorsey. But the Twitter founder has yet to comment on new developments about Musk's decision.

Musk himself has bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter, according to an announcement he made earlier this month. Twitter shares jumped as much as 30% on news of Musk buying the stock, and another 10% when his appointment to the board was announced the next day.

“The board and I had a lot of discussions about Elon joining the board, and with Elon in person,” Agrawal said in a Monday, April 11 tweet.

“We are excited to collaborate and explain the risks. We also believe that having Elon as a corporate fiduciary where he, like all board members, must act in the best interests of the company and all of our shareholders, is the best way forward,” said Agrawal.

Elon did not say why he invested in Twitter. However, he did express concerns about free speech and censorship on Twitter. Analysts at Bernstein, however, believe Musk's interest in Twitter is largely personal.

“He joins 15+ other billionaires in media holdings, including Bezos with WaPo. We see this interest as a potential distraction for Musk and Tesla shareholders, given that Musk is arguably overly committed, and his passion for the topic of censorship/free speech is high," they wrote in a note.

Over the weekend, Musk also suggested that Twitter should consider providing an authentication checkmark to anyone who subscribes to its $3 monthly subscription service, Twitter Blue.

“And no ads,” Musk said, outlining Twitter Blue's features. "A company's power to dictate policy is greatly increased if Twitter relies on advertising money to survive," Musk said.