Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted early Tuesday that Musk had been appointed to the company’s board, citing the company’s strategic direction. “He is also a passionate loyal and strong critic of the service which is exactly what we need… to make us stronger in the long run,” said Agrawal. “Welcome Elon!” “I look forward to working with the Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in the coming months,” Musk said. According to the regulatory statement announcing the move, Musk will be appointed director of the company for a term that will end in 2024. The move comes a day after it was revealed that Musk had been quietly buying shares in the company, raising more than 73 million in recent weeks – more than anyone else owns. “Behind the scenes, he will be very vocal, very influential,” cybersecurity analyst Ritesh Kotak told CBC News. “I think it will be very interesting to see the future of this platform.” Although a major coup for the man who harshly criticized Twitter on freedom of speech issues, Tuesday’s development means there will now be a limit to how many more shares the company can hold. Musk currently owns about 9.2 percent of all Twitter shares in circulation. As a board member, he is barred from owning more than 14.9 percent, which means he is now less likely to try to acquire the entire company, as some speculate that he may have wanted to.
Edit button?
It is not immediately clear what changes Musk might want to see, but a tweet on Monday suggests he is considering adding an edit button, which will allow users to change tweets after they are posted. Musk asked his 80 million followers to weigh in on the often-debated idea Monday, and by Tuesday morning, about three-quarters of the more than three million votes in favor had been in favor. “The consequences of this poll will be significant,” Agrawal told Musk. “Please vote carefully.”
