Elon Musk has refused to join the board of Twitter, CEO of the firm Parag Agrawal has said.
Agrawal said Musk, whose board membership would have started on April 9, changed his mind after the company announced that the billionaire founder of Tesla would be coming on as a board member.
“Elon Musk has decided not to join our board. Here’s what I can share about what happened,” he wrote in a note shared on his Twitter page.
“The board and I had many discussions about Elon joining the board, and with Elon directly.
“We were excited to collaborate and clear about the risks. We also believed that having Elon as a fiduciary of the company where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interests of the company and all our shareholders, was the best path forward. The board offered him a seat.
“We announced on Tuesday that Elon would be appointed to the board contingent on a background check and formal acceptance. Elon’s appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared the same morning that he will no longer be joining the board.
“I believe this is for the best. We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our board or not. Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input.”
In the note, which Agrawal said was originally shared with the company, he warned staff that there will be “distractions ahead but our goals and priorities remain unchanged”.
“The decisions we make and how we execute are in our hands, no one else’s. Let’s tune out the noise, and stay focused on the work and what we’re building,” he added.
With a 9.2 percent stake, Musk is the top share holder of the microblogging site.
