Elon Musk appointed to Twitter board after acquiring 9.2% stake

Twitter announced Tuesday it is appointing Tesla CEO Elon Musk to its board.

This development comes a day after Musk acquired a 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter, making him the largest shareholder of the social media platform.

Parag Agrawal, Twitter chief executive, said on Twitter Tuesday that he was “excited” to share that Musk was joining the company’s board of directors.

“Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our board,” he said.

“He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term. Welcome, Elon!” Mr Agrawal tweeted.

Mr Musk owns 73,486,938 shares of Twitter, which represents a 9.2 per cent stake in the company, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 13G filing released on Monday.

He had recently questioned Twitter’s adherence to free speech principles.

Musk had in March tweeted that he was giving “serious thought” about creating a new social media platform.

“Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy. What should be done?”

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“Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?

“Is a new platform needed?” he tweeted.

After he was named to the board, Musk said he was looking forward to working with the Twitter board to make significant improvements.

“Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in the coming months!” he said in a tweet.

Musk is the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $273 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index.