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Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal said in a note posted to
Twitter that the company's board held many discussions with
Musk, but he did not state the reason for the Tesla CEO's
decision.
Agrawal said the planned appointment was due to become effective
on Saturday, which would have prevented the world's wealthiest
person from becoming a beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of
Twitter's common stock.
"I believe this is for the best," Agrawal said in the note.
(https://bit.ly/3usFqhe) "There will be distractions ahead, but
our goals and priorities remain unchanged."
The announcement was so abrupt that Musk was still listed on
Twitter's board of directors on its website as of early Monday.
Twitter shares were down about 4% in premarket trading on
Monday. They soared 27% on April 4 after Musk disclosed his
stake but have since lost 7.5%.
Musk, whose net worth is pegged at $274 billion by Forbes,
responded only with a face-with-hand-over-mouth emoticon on
Twitter. Tesla did not immediately respond to an email sent to
the company seeking a comment from the CEO.
Musk, who calls himself a free-speech absolutist and has been
critical of Twitter, disclosed a 9.1% stake on April 4 and said
he planned to bring about significant improvements at the social
media platform.
The disclosure of the stake stoked widespread speculation on his
intentions, ranging from a full takeover of the platform to
taking an active role in corporate decisions.
News of Musk taking a board seat had some Twitter employees
panicking over the future of the social media firm's ability to
moderate content, company sources told Reuters.
Musk, a prolific user of Twitter, has made announcements about
his company and a variety of issues to his more than 80 million
followers on the social media platform.
Before taking a stake, Musk ran a Twitter poll asking users if
they believed Twitter adheres to the principle of free speech.
A day after becoming the largest shareholder, he launched
another poll asking users if they wanted an edit button, a
long-awaited feature on which Twitter has been working.
The Tesla boss also asked users in a poll if Twitter's
headquarters should be converted into a homeless shelter, a plan
backed by Amazon.com Inc's founder Jeff Bezos.
On Saturday, Musk suggested changes to the Twitter Blue premium
subscription service, including slashing its price, banning
advertising and giving an option to pay in the cryptocurrency
dogecoin.
(Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru; Editing by
Arun Koyyur, Miyoung Kim, Edmund Klamann and Anil D'Silva)
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