By Sulaimon Jamiu
Twitter is appointing Tesla CEO Elon Musk to its board of directors, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Musk will serve as a class II director until 2024. Twitter’s classified board system places members in overlapping terms, helping to prevent a newly-appointed board member from gaining control of the company right away.
In a pair of tweets, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal confirmed Musk’s new role on the board. He called Musk “both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service” and said he would “bring great value to our Board.”
I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
Musk responded via Twitter saying he looks forward “to making significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”
Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
“The Company will appoint Mr. Musk to the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) to serve as a Class II director with a term expiring at the Company’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders,” the filing says.
“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% of the Company’s common stock outstanding at such time, including for these purposes economic exposure through derivative securities, swaps, or hedging transactions.”
On Monday, Musk announced via an SEC filing that he’d purchased a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, despite his complaints about free speech on the platform.
Musk’s acquisition makes him the largest individual shareholder in the company. Shortly after making that disclosure, Musk polled followers about creating an “edit” button.
Agrawal replied by tweeting “the consequences of this poll will be important,” and he warned users to “vote carefully.”
Jack Dorsey, the former CEO of Twitter, expressed that he’s “happy” that Musk is joining the Twitter board, citing that “he cares deeply about our world and Twitter’s role in it.” Dorsey stepped down as CEO in November 2021 but will still remain on the board until sometime in May.
