Elon Musk will have a seat on the Twitter board of directors, a position the Tesla CEO and entrepreneur intends to use to enhance the social media site after disclosing a major stake, Twitter Inc. said yesterday.
Musk said in a company statement on Monday that he now owns around 9% of Twitter, making him the company's largest investor.
He wrote on Twitter, "Looking forward to collaborating with Parag and the Twitter board to create significant advancements for Twitter in the next months."
The Tesla CEO, who is known for taking unusual approaches, has given little explanation beyond the promise of major change at Twitter.
According to a source acquainted with the issue, Musk will be involved in strategic choices such as the development of Twitter's Bluesky project and the implementation of an edit button.
He will have no control over how the platform is moderated, what speech is prohibited, or whose accounts are restored - a regulation that extends to all board members, added by the source.
On Tuesday, the Twitter stock closed at $50.98, up 2% from Monday's high of almost 27%.
Considering Musk, who is ranked as the world's wealthiest person by Forbes, cannot own more than 14.9% of Twitter's share as an individual investor or as a member of a group as long as he remains on the company's board, his nomination may prevent him from executing a takeover offer.
The announcement of his interest on Monday sparked a flurry of speculation, spanning from a full takeover to an active position. As per the source, Musk has shown no interest in buying the company.
Musk amended his securities filing yesterday to declare a change in his position from an inactive to an active investor amid speculation that he may have submitted the wrong papers.
"As someone who isn't afraid of controversy or voicing his thoughts, Musk entails certain compliance concerns," said Andrew Wang, manager at Runnymede Capital Management.
Musk also revealed in his Tuesday statement that he paid $2.64 billion for the 73 million shares on Twitter between January 31 and April 1, equating to an average price of $36.14 per share. Twitter shares had peaked at $39.31 on Friday, before Musk's revelation of his investment.
Following the announcement, Twitter officials expressed their congratulations, hoping that Musk's participation would help revitalize the site, which has struggled to attract users, as well as spark interest from private investors.
