Elon Musk, the co-founder of SpaceX and Tesla, was named to the board of Twitter on Tuesday, just a day after disclosing that he had purchased a 9.2% interest in the firm. The purchase comes only days after Musk had said that he was “giving serious thought” to creating a new social media platform.
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
Musk’s 9.2 percent holding, valued at roughly $3 billion, making him the company’s largest stakeholder, surpassing the Vanguard Group’s 8.8 percent investment, Morgan Stanley’s 8.4 percent stake, and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s 2.2 percent interest.
Musk is likely to have more latitude to propose modifications and improvements to the microblogging site now that he has a stake and a board membership. For example, Musk first tweeted a poll on March 25, about 10 days after acquiring the stake, asking his followers if Twitter adhered to the ideals of free expression, which he claimed were important to a functioning democracy.
He then suggested that people “vote carefully” because the “consequences of the poll” might be significant. After more than 70% of voters said they didn’t believe Twitter was strictly enforcing the principles of free speech, Musk tweeted again on March 26 in an attempt to find a solution, claiming that Twitter, which “serves as the de-facto public town square,” had failed to adhere to free speech principles, undermining democracy.
In a follow-up tweet, he also questioned his followers if they thought a new platform was necessary. Musk wondered on Tuesday if the microblogging site should include an edit option.
The stake purchase comes at a time when Twitter’s annual revenue was $5 billion in December 2021, with a goal of $7.5 million in revenue by 2023. With Musk, one of the world’s wealthiest people, formally joining the board of directors as the largest stakeholder, the microblogging network might gain financial clout to fight with Facebook and Instagram.
Newer Twitter features, such as audio tweets and whitespace, have been added. The monies raised from the stake sale could be used to help the platform develop and improve the quality of its offerings.
Elon Musk’s appointment to the board of directors was announced earlier today, and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has reacted. Dorsey said he’s’really thrilled’ with the decision and echoed Musk’s concerns about the world in a tweet following the announcement.
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. https://t.co/T4rWEJFAes
— jack (@jack) April 5, 2022
In a response to the microblogging site’s CEO, Parag Agarwal, who revealed today that Musk is now a member of the board, Jack Dorsey expressed his displeasure. Agarwal claimed the billionaire would “bring great value to our Board” after revealing that he had many chats with him in recent weeks.
