Tesla and SpaceX CEO buys 9.2% of Twitter's shares
Elon Musk will be joining Twitter’s board of directors.
"I'm excited to share that we're appointing @elonmusk to our board!" Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted on Tuesday. "Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board."
The San Francisco-based tech firm said in a regulatory filing that it plans to appoint the Tesla and SpaceX CEO to its board for a term that ends in 2024, reported CNN. This comes on the heels of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO purchasing 9.2% of Twitter’s shares.
“Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!” Musk tweeted.
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As part of the deal, Musk agreed not to acquire more than 14.9% of the company's shares while he remains on the board, according to CNN. Before the announcement, Musk sent out several tweets late in March, seemingly criticizing the social media giant. On March 25, Musk started a poll via a tweet, saying: “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?”
As of writing, the poll had received 2,035,924 votes: 70.4% said No while 29.6% said Yes.
“The consequences of this poll will be important,” Musk said then.
“He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term,” Agrawal continued about Musk, who was atop the list of the highest paid CEOs and executives in 2020 with $6,658,803,818 total compensation that year, according to a Bloomberg report.
It’s an interesting shift for Musk, whose baby Tesla has been the target of the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) in recent months. The state filed a lawsuit against the company earlier this year alleging systematic racial discrimination and harassment. Of course, the electric vehicle maker, which relocated its headquarters from Palo Alto, CA to Austin, TX in December, has a history of such allegations made by former workers.
Numerous other companies have also seen movements in their leadership group this year.
Etsy Inc. announced that Kim Seymour has joined the e-commerce giant as CHRO. International real estate investment giant JLL named Laura Adams its new chief human resources officer (CHRO).
Ralph Lauren announced that Howard Smith, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at the company, resigned. Kevin Johnson, CEO of Starbucks Corp., announced he will be retiring next month after 13 years with the company. Bolt founder and CEO Ryan Breslow announced that he’s stepping down after seven years at the helm of his San Francisco-based tech firm.
