Elon Musk rejected the offer of Twitter Inc. to join its board of directors, a dramatic turnaround in a week in which the billionaire became its largest shareholder while the company warned of “distractions ahead.”
The firm’s board had many conversations with Musk, Twitter’s chief executive said, Parag Agrawalin a note published on the site on Sunday, but did not reveal the reason for the Tesla boss’s decision.
Shares of Twitter were down about 2% at $45.31 in trading before markets opened on Monday. They soared 27% on April 4, when Musk went public with his stake, but have since lost 7.5% of those gains.
The planned appointment was due to take effect on Saturday, Agrawal said, effectively preventing the world’s richest person from becoming the beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of Twitter’s common stock.
I think this is for the best,” Agrawal said in the note. “There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain the same.”
The announcement was so abrupt that the company’s website still listed Musk as a member of Twitter’s board of directors.
Musk, whose net worth is estimated at $274 billion per Forbes, only responded with a hand-over-mouth emoji on Twitter. Tesla did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment from his chief executive.
Musk, who describes himself as a staunch defender of free speech and has been critical of Twitter, disclosed a 9.1% stake on April 4 and said he plans to make significant improvements to the social media platform.