Elon Musk is joining Twitter’s board of directors a day after disclosing that the Tesla CEO took a 9% stake in the social media platform.
Twitter Inc. announced Tuesday in regulatory filings that the company had reached an agreement on Monday with Musk. The deal will grant Musk a place on the board. It expires at the 2024 annual shareholders meeting.
Musk, either alone or as a member of a group, won’t be allowed to own more than 14.9% of Twitter’s outstanding stock for as long as he’s a board member and for 90 days after.
Parag Agrawal, CEO of Twitter said this in an interview tweet that the company had been talking to Musk in recent weeks and “it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.”
“He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term,” Agrawal continued.
Putting Musk on Twitter’s board and limiting the amount of stock he can acquire while as a director may be a strategic move on Twitter’s part, as Musk became its biggest shareholder and openly questioned the social media platform’s dedication to free speech and the First Amendment.
Musk bought 73.5 million shares for $3 billion, he has over 80 million followers on Twitter. With his large and loyal following on Twitter, Musk has raised the possibility of creating a competitor social media platform.
Musk didn’t speak specifically about the possible Twitter rule change he might advocate. He tweeted Tuesday that he wants to make “ significant improvements to Twitter in coming months! ” Late Monday he launched a poll asking whether users want an edit button, misspelling “yes” as “yse.”
In March, Musk told his millions of followers on Twitter that he was “giving serious thought” to creating his own social media platform, and has clashed repeatedly with financial regulators about his use of Twitter.
Musk has been locked in an intense dispute with the SEC about his Twitter posting ability. His lawyer has contended in court motions that the SEC is infringing on the Tesla CEO’s First Amendment rights.
Twitter’s shares rose over 6% in the hours before market opening.
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