Elon Musk Is No Longer Joining Twitter Board Of Directors, And People Aren't Sure What Went Down

Remember when much ado was made about Elon Musk joining Twitter's board of directors? Turns out, that's not happening.

In a frankly exasperated-sounding letter, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced yesterday evening that Musk "decided" not to join Twitter's board.

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

"Elon's appointment to the Board was to become officially effective on 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning he will no longer be joining the Board," wrote Agrawal. He did not clarify Musk's reasoning for his decision.

"There will be distractions ahead but our goals and priorities remain unchanged," he wrote, somewhat ominously.

The "distractions" referred to by Agrawal are almost certainly a reference to the possibility that Musk could outright buy Twitter. Musk recently became Twitter's largest shareholder at 9 percent and many speculate he has grander plans for the website. Holding a seat on Twitter's board would have capped Musk's ownership of the company to 14.9 percent, giving him influence and power but barring him from outright buying the company. Now that he remains free from the board, he could use his immense capital to purchase the remaining 91 percent of shares, giving him total control over Twitter.

Hostile takeover inbound https://t.co/VBddK0fqK9

— Austen Allred (@Austen) April 11, 2022

Another possibility is that Musk failed a "background check." Agrawal's vague statement said Musk's board seat was contingent on a background check, so it's possible something about Musk was discovered that made a board seat untenable. Of course, no information about what that could be was given, leading to even more wild speculation as to the reason.

did… Elon Musk fail a background check? https://t.co/oWGAnUZzup

— Tom McKay ☕ (@thetomzone) April 11, 2022

At the moment, the entire Musk-Twitter story appears to have many tantalizingly juicy details that remain unknown, but we'll have to wait to see what, if anything, comes to light. All that we can be sure about is the future of Twitter, essentially contingent on the whims of one of the world's most volatile billionaires, is uncertain.