Tesla CEO Elon Musk has decided not to join the board of Twitter, the company’s CEO Parag Agrawal announced late on Sunday night, in a move that comes just a week after the billionaire disclosed he had acquired a 9% stake in the social media giant.
Making the announcement on Twitter, Agrawal wrote that Musk formally turned down the company’s offer to join the board on April 9.
The announcement did not clarify why Musk had turned down the spot on the company’s board. Agrawal said he believed that this was for the best but the company will always remain open to inputs from Musk who is the company’s biggest shareholder.
Elaborating the offer to have Musk on the board, Agrawal noted that Twitter wanted to have Musk serve the fiduciary role where, like other board members, he would have been expected to “act in the best interests of our company and our shareholders.”
The Twitter CEO also noted that the board seat offer was also contingent to a background check.
Last Monday, Musk disclosed that he had acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter worth around $3 billion. A few days later, Twitter clarified that the billionaire had actually acquired 9.1% of the company and the earlier number was a mistake.
Following his acquisition Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder, with a holding that is nearly four times the size of founder Jack Dorsey’s 2.25% stake.
A day after the disclosure, Agrawal announced that Musk had been offered a seat on Twitter’s board adding that Musk was both a “passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need…in the boardroom.”
In response, Musk said he was looking forward to working with Agrawal and the Twitter board “to make significant improvements to Twitter.” The billionaire has previously accused Twitter of failing to adhere to free speech principles and undermining democracy.