Following the confirmation by Twitter’s CEO that Musk will not be joining the company’s board of directors, conspiracy theories sprang on the internet.
Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer Award 2020 on December 1, 2020 in Berlin, Germany, according to a press release. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images)
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Following months of expectation and speculation, Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal has stated that Elon Musk would not be appointed to the company’s board of directors. The CEO of Twitter, Agarwal, issued a brief statement on the social networking site, clarifying that, at least for the time being, Musk will not have a position despite being the company’s largest individual shareholder. He stated that it was “for the best,” which sparked a flurry of conspiracy theories and alarm bells on the internet.
Many Twitter users, including some of the company’s own workers, were concerned about the changes that Musk would bring if he were to join the board of directors. Others, including far-right Republicans such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, hoped that Musk would “bring back” free expression to the platform and return their accounts to their original status. The suspicion was fueled by Musk himself, who, in the days following his 9 percent stock purchase, released a series of tweets and polls to further stoke the fire.
To put a damper on all of those hypotheses, Agarwal stated on April 10 that “Elon informed the board of directors the same day of his decision to withdraw from the board of directors.” However, that statement has now sparked a whole new set of conspiracy theories, most of which revolve around Musk’s decision not to join the board of directors.
What was Elon Musk’s reasoning for declining a position on Twitter’s board of directors?
A number of people have pointed out that there could be a variety of factors contributing to this situation. The first is that Twitter only allows stockholders to own a maximum of 14.9 percent of the company’s stock, according to the company. This means that Musk will not be able to purchase his way into the Twitter board of directors from within the company. The limit does not apply to him, however, if he does not serve on the board of directors. As stated by journalist Jordan Schachtel, “Musk now has the option to attempt a hostile takeover if he so desires.” According to another user, “Elon Musk opting out of the Twitter board of directors so that he can be free to just perform a whole hostile takeover of the firm instead is probably the most realistic scenario i’ve heard so far,” is the most plausible explanation.
According to Seth Dillon, such assertion looks to have a grain of truth to it in some respects. On April 5, the CEO of Babylon Bee sent out a tweet “Musk reached out to us before polling his Twitter followers on the company’s commitment to free expression on the platform. He wanted to make sure that we had been suspended, which we had been. On one phone discussion, he even expressed the possibility that he could need to purchase Twitter. He is now the company’s largest stakeholder and holds a seat on the board of directors.”
Different theories were also put forward as an alternative. One person quipped that Musk bought shares in Twitter “for the memes,” and another shared a screenshot of Musk’s famous February 2018 tweet, which he claimed to have inspired the joke. According to another tweet, “Elon Musk purchases Twitter stock -> Elon Musk joins the Twitter board -> Trump has his account restored -> Trump wins the 2024 presidential election -> Elon pays fewer taxes.” Theoretically, “He was scared off by the background check, hmm?” another theorised, while a fourth stated, “So basically he refused to join the board so that he could continue to talk s—t about Twitter without getting sued lol.”
Musk’s plans for Twitter have long remained a mystery to the public. Since the acquisition, the CEO of Tesla has remained deafeningly quiet about what he intends to do next with the company. “I’m looking forward to working with Parag & the Twitter board to make big changes to Twitter in the next months!” Musk wrote in one of his more sober tweets. So, if Musk declines to serve on the board of directors, it appears like a hostile takeover of the company is in the works, giving Musk majority control over the platform.
Whatever the reason, we’re not likely to find out about it. The actual nature of Musk’s aspirations for Twitter will only be revealed with time.