Twitter has named Elon Musk (the Chief Executive Officer of Tesla) to its board after disclosing that he is the company’s largest shareholder, with 9.2% shares in Twitter.
The appointment puts an end to speculations of Musk taking over Twitter. It caps Musk’s ownership at 14.9% as per the company’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday. His Twitter board term would last until Twitter’s 2024 annual meeting.
Due to its high valuation and potentially disappointing user growth, Twitter’s shares had tumbled after its 2021 record high. However, as the news of Musk on board broke, Twitter opened with a 7% higher share value.
Elon Musk is not only the biggest shareholder in Twitter but also its influential user, with 8.4 million followers on the microblogging platform. Nonetheless, Musk has run into trouble many times for his tweets.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal wrote, “He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service, which is exactly what we need @Twitter, and in the board-room, to make us stronger in the long-term.”
After the announcement, the Tesla chief intrigued Twitter users with a poll on the microblogging platform asking if they wanted to edit their tweets. By Thursday morning, more than 3 million people had voted.