By Mike Robuck

Billionaire Elon Musk was given a direct say in Twitter’s future direction through an appointment to the company’s board, shortly after sparking speculation he was seeking to control the business by taking a 9.2 per cent stake.

Twitter revealed the appointment in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission  April 4 after earlier revealing Musk had become its largest outside shareholder through an investment valued at US$2.9 billion, based on its share price on 1 April.

There was speculation Musk’s purchase of 73.5 million Twitter shares was to give him a more direct hand in running the company. The billionaire acquired the stake in mid-March, a matter of weeks before criticising the social media company’s stance on free speech.

Twitter appointed Musk as a Class II director, a term expiring at the company’s 2024 annual meeting of stockholders.

Musk is prohibited from owning more than 14.9 per cent of Twitter’s common stock either as an individual or as part of a group during his time as a board member and for 90 days after.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal believes the move is a positive for the company.

I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022

Musk replied by tweeting he was looking forward to working with Agrawal and the Twitter board “to make significant improvements” in the coming months.https://www.mobileworldlive.com