Tesla CEO Elon Musk became a Twitter board member just hours after becoming their largest stockholder.
QUICK FACTS:
- Tesla’s Elon Musk has joined the board at social media giant Twitter one day after news broke that he bought up a large portion of their stock.
- According to a report by Reuters, the technology tycoon has promised “significant” improvements to Twitter.
- Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey publicly celebrated the news saying he’s “really happy” Musk is joining the board.
- Musk teased potential changes when he polled his 80 million followers if they would like to see an “edit” button on Twitter.
TWITTER’S OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
- Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted Tuesday, “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.”
- “He is 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. Welcome Elon!” Agrawal went on to say.
- Musk responded, saying, “Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”
BACKGROUND:
- Musk disclosed that he now holds a 9.2% stake in Twitter as of Monday, prompting speculation about his intentions toward the company, Reuters notes.
- The Tesla CEO is prohibited from owning more than 14.9% of the company, according to Forbes. This was put in place as a safety measure to limit how much can be wielded over Twitter.
- Musk has publicly called himself a free-speech absolutist and has been vocally critical of the social media platform in the past.
