One day after announcing his 9.2% stake in Twitter, Elon Musk is joining the board of directors. His stake makes him the largest shareholder in the company.
At a Glance
- Elon Musk will take his spot on the Twitter board of directors today.
- The Tesla owner announced yesterday that he bought a 9.2% share in the company.
- Musk is now the largest Twitter shareholder.
- He hasn’t been open about his plans for the social media platform. But most believe he will work to drop censorship policies.
Elon Musk is the Largest Shareholder on the Twitter Board
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted the news of the billionaire’s new spot on the board today (April 5). Musk will keep his place until the 2024 annual shareholder’s meeting.
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, 2022
“I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board!” he wrote. “Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.”
Musk bought his share for around $2.9 billion on March 14th, according to an SEC filing on Monday. He is not allowed to acquire more than 14.9%,
Since the news broke, the platform’s stock has gained 35%, which gives Musk another $980 million to add to his nearly $300 billion fortune.
Elon Musk hasn’t given any hints about his plans for Twitter. But in recent weeks, he’s made many comments about the company’s free speech policies. He’s also made posts comparing Agrawal and co-founder Jack Dorsey to leaders in Stalinist Russia.
And last month, he asked his 80 million followers in a poll if they thought Twitter’s policies went against free speech. More than 70% said it did.
People Predict that Musk Will Advocate for an Open-Source Platform
So most people believe that Elon Musk will work to make Twitter more open to free discourse. And as Agrawal said, Musk is “both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service,” which he believes will make the company “stronger.”
Some also predict that the new shareholder will work with Jack Dorsey’s plan to make Twitter an open-source platform with fewer controls.
“[W]e believe a primary driver of this investment is Mr. Musk’s desire to reshape the platform and make it more open-source with fewer intermediary controls,” analysts at Truist Securities wrote in a research note. “Considering what a small investment this is for him (~1% of net worth), we would not be surprised to see him increase his stake even further, and potentially assume a more active role in the decision-making at the company.”
