Twitter CEO Says Elon Musk Will Not Join Board

Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk will not join Twitter's (TWTR) board of directors nearly a week after a filing revealed the technology entrepreneur took a 9.2% stake in the $37 billion company.

"Elon's appointment to the board was to become officially effective [April 9], but Elon shared that same morning he will no longer be joining the board. I believe this is for the best," Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal confirmed in a tweet.

"We were excited to collaborate and clear about the risks. We also believed that Elon as a fiduciary of the company where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interest of the company and all our shareholders, was the best path forward," Agrawal stated.

Twitter fell almost 5% in Frankfurt on Monday before recovering to trade about 3% lower, while the Stoxx 600 Europe index slipped 0.32%, and Germany's DAX fell 0.39% as of 10:28 UTC.

Agrawal added that Musk remains Twitter's biggest shareholder and that the social media company would remain open to his input. "We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our board or not," he said.

Shareholders own part of a company's stock with a vested interest in its financial growth. Large shareholders, such as Musk, are usually offered a seat on the board of directors with a right to vote on how the company is controlled and conducts business.

Musk can now presumably further increase his stake in the social media giant, as one of the stipulations that came with his board seat was that he could not increase his holdings beyond 14.9%.

The CEO of electric-car maker Tesla and space exploration firm SpaceX is a staunch backer of cryptocurrencies and often turns to Twitter to publicly announce his views on crypto.

Last week's reports of his Twitter stake led to temporary spikes in crypto markets, with the likes of Dogecoin's DOGE surging as much as 10%. Crypto markets showed no immediate reaction to this morning’s announcement, however.

Musk even teased DOGE payments for Twitter services over the weekend. "Maybe even an option to pay in Doge?," he said in response to a tweet about pricing for Twitter Blue, the platform's monthly subscription.

Meanwhile, Musk poked fun at Twitter's expense over the weekend. He held a poll that asked users if Twitter's San Francisco headquarters should be turned into a "homeless shelter," and another that polled responses for "Delete the w in twitter?"

UPDATE (April 11, 10:31 UTC): Moves Twitter market reaction to fourth paragraph, updates prices.

UPDATE (April 11, 13:22 UTC): Adds background in the seventh paragraph.