Shares of microblogging platform Twitter fell in premarket trading on Monday following the company’s CEO’s announcement that Elon Musk will no longer be joining Twitter’s board as previously announced.
The company’s shares were down more than 8 percent and were trading below $43 per share around 4 a.m. ET before making a slight recovery.
Elon Musk’s involvement with Twitter first came in a 13G filing with the SEC where Twitter revealed that the billionaire owned 9.2 percent of the company. His stake in the company was also described as a passive stake adding that he was not looking to get involved in Twitter’s operation. A 13D filing filed hours later, however, stated that Elon Musk wanted to be more active in Twitter’s operations, i.e., he wanted to be a part of the running of Twitter’s operations and showed that Elon Musk owns 73,115,038 Twitter shares.
Elon Musk should have become a member of Twitter’s seat on Saturday but the billionaire influencer tuned down the seat that same Saturday. He is still listed as a Twitter board member as the company’s investor page has not been updated.
“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 that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board. 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,” CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted on Sunday.
Elon Musk’s reasons for not joining the board are still a mystery as both the billionaire and Twitter did not give reasons why Elon Musk was no longer joining the board.
Shares of Twitter had soared more than 25 percent following the announcement that Elon Musk had acquired over 9 percent stake of the company, making him the largest Twitter shareholder. His purchase followed shortly after he questioned Twitter’s position on free speech. “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?” he had said.
Ibhadojemu Lucky Emmanuel is a graduate of Education and Economics from the University of Benin. He has a passion for tech and business and has been writing professionally for over a period of five years. He's written across various topics and segments and knew tech-business was it when he first stumbled on it. He has a great passion for music and arts, and wants to visit as many countries as he can someday.
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