The announcement last week that Tesla CEO Elon Musk had become Twitter’s largest shareholder ignited a roller-coaster of events, culminating in the platform’s CEO Parag Agarwal declaring Musk had walked away.
As per reports by AFP and Reuters, experts have now warned that Elon Musk’s refusal of a Twitter board position allows him to increase his ownership share in the social media site while avoiding commitments to promote its best interests.
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Close observers of the company speculated on what would happen next, but noticed potentially alarming indicators in the world’s wealthiest person’s plans for Twitter.
“This now goes from a Cinderella story with Musk joining the Twitter board and keeping his stake under 14.9 percent, helping move Twitter strategically forward, to likely a ‘Game of Thrones’ battle between Musk and Twitter,” according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives.
Ives said that one possible scenario is that Musk might declare the game is finished and focus on his many other projects, like electric automobiles, space travel, and even connecting human brains to computers.
However, he warned that other possible scenarios include Musk attempting to impose his will on Twitter or even attempting to sell the company.
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Musk had agreed to limit his stake in the company to under 15 per cent as part of his commitment to join the board. Now, this is in the air.
However, according to Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart, he may now continue to buy stock and push for reform without having to make friends with Twitter board members.
“Everyone seems to think Musk wants a bigger part of the company than the board would let him have,” said Carolina Milanesi, a Creative Strategies analyst.
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Musk confirmed Monday that he will not be joining the board of directors, but provided no further details in an amended filing to US market authorities.
However, he reserved the right to sell or purchase more shares, as well as engage Twitter’s board or management in conversations “without limitation” on matters ranging from structure to management.
Over the weekend, Musk made a number of jabs at Twitter, which have since vanished.
The tweets featured suggestions for improving the site, such as awarding authentication checkmarks to paying Twitter Blue subscribers and converting the company’s San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter because staff don’t use it.
(With inputs from agencies)
