Twitter CEO Warns Of Distractions After Elon Musk Rejects Board Seat Offer
Twitter has been in the spotlight over the last few weeks. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently became Twitter’s biggest stakeholder and was offered a seat on their board. Musk refused the appointment and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal naturally posted on Twitter. Most of Agrawal’s comments directly addressed the board’s offer to Musk and Musk’s subsequent refusal. Nevertheless, Agrawal’s ending thoughts were rather odd. Agrawal mysteriously stated that there will be “distractions ahead” for Twitter’s board and encourages them to stay the course.
Twitter’s board offered Musk a seat after he purchased a 9.2% stake in the company. According to Agrawal, “We also believed that having Elon as a fiduciary of the company where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interests in the company and all our shareholders, was the best path forward.” It originally appeared that Musk would take the offer. He was supposed to start on April 9th as long as he passed the background check and formally accepted the offer. However, Musk informed the board on the morning of April 9th that he would not be accepting the appointment.
The most interesting aspect of Agrawal’s announcement are his concluding comments. He warned that there will be “distractions ahead” and that Twitter’s “goals and priorities remain unchanged.” He further stated that whatever decisions the board makes are made by them alone and that the board needs to “tune out the noise.”
Argawal’s strange comments are likely a response to Musk’s overall popularity and Twitter polls. Musk has posted a range of polls and comments on Twitter asking users questions as silly as whether or not they should take the “w” out of “Twitter” or as serious as whether Twitter Blue subscribers should automatically be authenticated. He also remains critical of Twitter. He suggested that part of Twitter’s headquarters should be turned into a homeless shelter “since no one shows up anyway.”
Twitter’s insistence that it has not been swayed by others has bled into their other announcements. Twitter noted that it has been working on an “edit” button for quite some time and did not get the idea for the edit button from a poll. Musk had recently polled his followers on Twitter on whether or not they wanted an edit button and welcomed additional feedback.
Twitter’s board offered Musk a seat after he purchased a 9.2% stake in the company. According to Agrawal, “We also believed that having Elon as a fiduciary of the company where he, like all board members, has to act in the best interests in the company and all our shareholders, was the best path forward.” It originally appeared that Musk would take the offer. He was supposed to start on April 9th as long as he passed the background check and formally accepted the offer. However, Musk informed the board on the morning of April 9th that he would not be accepting the appointment.
Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here. pic.twitter.com/lfrXACavvk
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 11, 2022
The most interesting aspect of Agrawal’s announcement are his concluding comments. He warned that there will be “distractions ahead” and that Twitter’s “goals and priorities remain unchanged.” He further stated that whatever decisions the board makes are made by them alone and that the board needs to “tune out the noise.”
Argawal’s strange comments are likely a response to Musk’s overall popularity and Twitter polls. Musk has posted a range of polls and comments on Twitter asking users questions as silly as whether or not they should take the “w” out of “Twitter” or as serious as whether Twitter Blue subscribers should automatically be authenticated. He also remains critical of Twitter. He suggested that part of Twitter’s headquarters should be turned into a homeless shelter “since no one shows up anyway.”
Twitter’s insistence that it has not been swayed by others has bled into their other announcements. Twitter noted that it has been working on an “edit” button for quite some time and did not get the idea for the edit button from a poll. Musk had recently polled his followers on Twitter on whether or not they wanted an edit button and welcomed additional feedback.
