Elon Musk is officially joining Twitter. The company, not the service.
Just one day after disclosing that he had purchased a more than 9 percent stake in Twitter for about $2.9 billion, the social media company is appointing the Tesla and SpaceX founder to its board of directors.
In a securities filing Tuesday, Twitter said that Musk will be named to the board as “promptly as practicable,” with a term set to expire at the 2024 annual meeting. The letter agreement between Twitter and Musk also stipulates that “for so long as Mr. Musk is serving on the Board and for 90 days thereafter, Mr. Musk will not, either alone or as a member of a group, become the beneficial owner of more than 14.9 percent of Company’s common stock outstanding.”
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In other words, Musk will be limited in the number of Twitter shares he can acquire.
“I’m excited to share that we’re appointing [Musk] to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board,” Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said. “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!”
Musk added in a tweet that he was “looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”
Musk’s disclosure on Monday sent Twitter stock surging more than 25 percent. Musk has been actively soliciting questions from users on the service in recent weeks (after he acquired the stake, of course), including whether the service lives up to the principles of free speech and whether it should have an “edit” function.
Musk joins Twitter’s board just a few weeks after stepping down from Endeavor’s board of directors.
Agrawal has only been leading Twitter since late November, after succeeding co-founder Jack Dorsey (a friend of Musk’s, as it happens).
