But its aftermath could linger if the mercurial billionaire who now holds a roughly 9% stake in Twitter continues to push forward his ideas for reshaping the business of social media.
WHY DIDN'T MUSK JOIN THE BOARD?
Musk said he informed Twitter on Saturday that he wouldn't be joining its board of directors, after being invited five days earlier, according to a financial disclosure. He didn't explain why but the Saturday decision coincided with a barrage of now-deleted tweets from Musk proposing major changes to the company, such as dropping ads — its chief source of revenue — and transforming its
WHAT IS TWITTER SAYING?
Twitter CEO
HOW DID MUSK BUILD HIS STAKE?
Musk has been tweeting for a long time, but he began buying Twitter stock in earnest only a few months ago. He started on
Altogether, Musk was in control of 73.1 million Twitter shares as of the most recent count, or 9.1% of the company. He spent
HOW BIG IS MUSK’S STAKE COMPARED WITH OTHERS?
Musk seemed to be Twitter’s biggest shareholder until investment giant
Vanguard controls 10.3% of the company through investments made by its suite of mutual funds and ETFs. Vanguard and other fund giants are often the biggest investors in any company, as money keeps pouring into their index funds from retirement savers and other investors. But these fund giants are typically much more hands-off as owners than activist investors, who can push for new management teams or big changes in strategy.
WHAT COULDN’T MUSK DO IF HE HAD JOINED THE BOARD?
Had Musk joined the board, he'd have been only one of several voices in strategy discussions. And he might have chafed at not being able to order the company around.
“The responsibility of the board of directors is to represent the shareholders,” said
By turning down a seat on Twitter’s board, Musk also gets out of a promise to keep his ownership stake of Twitter at 14.9% or below. Free of that cap, he has the option to build a bigger stake, where he could try to take over the company or help elect a slate of directors more aligned with his thinking.
“That 15% is an arbitrary number,” said Kraemer. “It’s not like if you own 15%, you can or can’t do something else. I’m speculating, but maybe the thought was: If we bring him on as a director, and he can’t buy more than 15%, that literally stops him from taking control of the company.”
DIDN’T MUSK SAY HE WOULD BE JUST A ‘PASSIVE’ INVESTOR IN TWITTER?
When Musk first unveiled his Twitter stake through a filing with the
WHAT HAS MUSK SAID HE’LL DO WITH HIS SHARES?
He said in a filing with regulators on Monday that he owns the shares for “investment purposes.” He said he may buy more, sell or simply hold the shares, depending on what happens with its price and other factors.
He also said that he may talk with Twitter’s board and its management team from time to time about strategy, as well as possible mergers, sales or acquisitions, among other things. The widely followed tweeter was sure to note that he may express his views to the company “through social media or other channels.”
Musk said he has “no present plans or intentions,” but that his plans could change at any time.
WHAT DOES MUSK REALLY WANT?
Much of Musk's vocal criticism of Twitter over recent weeks has centered around his belief that it falls short on free speech principles. The social media platform has angered followers of
But as long as his attention is sustained, it's unlikely that Musk would make such a big play for Twitter if he didn't also have strategic business interests, said
“He clearly has shown an interest in combining his philosophical beliefs and interests with his economic ones,” he said. “I think it would be very dangerous to discount him."
COULD MUSK BE TWITTER CEO?
Probably not. Neither Musk — who already serves as CEO of
“He’d rather be the chairman, the spirit animal, the man who saved Twitter and also made
Choe reported from
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