Twitter has appointed Tesla chief executive Elon Musk to its board of directors, a day after it was revealed he had become the social media company’s biggest shareholder.
“Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board,” Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief executive, announced on the platform on Tuesday.
“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. Welcome Elon!”
The entrepreneur’s term will expire in 2024.
Twitter shares were up more than 9.5 per cent pre-market at $54.71 following the announcement. The company’s stock rose more than 27 per cent on Monday, when a filing at the US Securities and Exchange Commission revealed Musk had acquired a passive 9.2 per cent stake.
Musk is a frequent user of Twitter, with more than 80mn followers, and has been canvassing opinion through polls on the platform in recent weeks about what the design of Twitter should look like.
After the news broke of Musk becoming Twitter’s biggest shareholder, he tweeted: “Oh hi lol” and later posted a poll asking if users wanted an edit button.
Agrawal shared Musk’s message, warning “the consequences of this poll will be important”, in reference to comments Musk had made last month about whether Twitter aligns with free speech and democracy.
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully. https://t.co/UDJIvznALB
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
Twitter’s co-founder and former chief executive Jack Dorsey welcomed the appointment. “I’m really happy Elon is joining the Twitter board! He cares deeply about our world and Twitter’s role in it. Parag and Elon both lead with their hearts, and they will be an incredible team,” he wrote on Twitter.
Two weeks ago, Musk had conducted another poll on the platform asking whether Twitter’s algorithm should be open-source, meaning anyone can review the original source code behind it. Dorsey, who resigned in November after increasing pressure from activist investor Elliott Management, replied: “The choice of which algorithm to use (or not) should be open to everyone.”
Musk’s history on the platform has been controversial and has embroiled him in a battle with US regulators.
Having previously tweeted that Tesla had the “funding secured” to take the company private, the SEC enforced a penalty and condition that a company lawyer approves Musk’s Twitter messages about Tesla’s finances. A recent filing shows Musk is trying to overturn this ruling.
The SEC also subpoenaed Musk in February, after a Twitter poll in November in which he asked whether he should sell 10 per cent of his stake in Tesla.
In an interview with the Financial Times late last year, Musk said: “I feel like Tesla has been unfairly targeted over and over again by the SEC. From what I can see, they’ve done nothing to protect investors, small or large, from Wall Street short sellers.”
