Dubai Telegraph - Musk dodges limits in Twitter board seat refusal: experts

EUR -
AED 3.841211
AFN 75.832767
ALL 100.186787
AMD 414.576178
ANG 1.887817
AOA 956.388626
ARS 1105.306912
AUD 1.656685
AWG 1.885056
AZN 1.78038
BAM 1.969275
BBD 2.114972
BDT 127.270845
BGN 1.955518
BHD 0.394123
BIF 3061.059083
BMD 1.045801
BND 1.414197
BOB 7.238599
BRL 6.033118
BSD 1.047467
BTN 91.024834
BWP 14.518551
BYN 3.428089
BYR 20497.696624
BZD 2.104097
CAD 1.485084
CDF 2996.219457
CHF 0.944918
CLF 0.02597
CLP 996.585326
CNY 7.62368
CNH 7.61239
COP 4328.967115
CRC 531.134264
CUC 1.045801
CUP 27.713722
CVE 110.907656
CZK 25.04069
DJF 185.859769
DKK 7.459799
DOP 65.101235
DZD 141.548368
EGP 52.957052
ERN 15.687013
ETB 131.874426
FJD 2.411404
FKP 0.840462
GBP 0.832677
GEL 2.949014
GGP 0.840462
GHS 16.168365
GIP 0.840462
GMD 74.777355
GNF 9050.360522
GTQ 8.08633
GYD 219.151631
HKD 8.144587
HNL 26.704726
HRK 7.555991
HTG 137.069861
HUF 402.027044
IDR 16982.759973
ILS 3.727799
IMP 0.840462
INR 90.759879
IQD 1369.999111
IRR 44028.215839
ISK 146.799364
JEP 0.840462
JMD 164.777483
JOD 0.741999
JPY 160.097469
KES 134.908497
KGS 91.455371
KHR 4192.615543
KMF 492.206077
KPW 941.314949
KRW 1508.564274
KWD 0.322808
KYD 0.872986
KZT 523.280525
LAK 22720.023256
LBP 93729.900655
LKR 309.903465
LRD 206.545178
LSL 19.358075
LTL 3.087978
LVL 0.632594
LYD 5.134724
MAD 10.425622
MDL 19.640672
MGA 4925.722497
MKD 61.482134
MMK 3396.720361
MNT 3619.675593
MOP 8.403923
MRU 41.88392
MUR 48.650272
MVR 16.115643
MWK 1811.327328
MXN 21.361581
MYR 4.643182
MZN 66.837223
NAD 19.357987
NGN 1576.17837
NIO 38.543734
NOK 11.666743
NPR 145.641636
NZD 1.842253
OMR 0.402641
PAB 1.047477
PEN 3.88672
PGK 4.192621
PHP 60.517345
PKR 291.935403
PLN 4.170683
PYG 8239.377593
QAR 3.80771
RON 4.976447
RSD 117.081589
RUB 93.599748
RWF 1464.121187
SAR 3.922391
SBD 8.833842
SCR 15.049083
SDG 628.52583
SEK 11.232108
SGD 1.405645
SHP 0.861308
SLE 23.854476
SLL 21929.926782
SOS 597.677932
SRD 36.969175
STD 21645.966093
SVC 9.165716
SYP 13598.565212
SZL 19.357906
THB 35.233282
TJS 11.417735
TMT 3.670761
TND 3.331868
TOP 2.449369
TRY 37.853286
TTD 7.108641
TWD 34.12626
TZS 2730.060284
UAH 43.701425
UGX 3854.373387
USD 1.045801
UYU 45.450997
UZS 13595.411031
VES 64.573691
VND 26631.318598
VUV 129.327127
WST 2.967323
XAF 660.48582
XAG 0.032328
XAU 0.000357
XCD 2.826329
XDR 0.802096
XOF 660.046764
XPF 119.331742
YER 259.358393
ZAR 19.348781
ZMK 9413.459828
ZMW 29.30379
ZWL 336.747446
  • RBGPF

    -0.8400

    64.01

    -1.31%

  • BCC

    1.8800

    120.6

    +1.56%

  • JRI

    0.0700

    12.92

    +0.54%

  • SCS

    0.4900

    12.42

    +3.95%

  • NGG

    0.6900

    61.27

    +1.13%

  • RIO

    1.2500

    63.29

    +1.98%

  • GSK

    0.4200

    36.55

    +1.15%

  • CMSC

    0.1300

    23.41

    +0.56%

  • AZN

    0.0200

    74.45

    +0.03%

  • BTI

    -3.1300

    39.61

    -7.9%

  • RELX

    0.4700

    51.91

    +0.91%

  • RYCEF

    0.2100

    7.88

    +2.66%

  • BCE

    0.3700

    23.63

    +1.57%

  • VOD

    -0.1600

    8.43

    -1.9%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    23.87

    +0.67%

  • BP

    -0.1900

    34.49

    -0.55%

Musk dodges limits in Twitter board seat refusal: experts

Musk dodges limits in Twitter board seat refusal: experts

Elon Musk's rejection of a Twitter board seat frees him to buy greater stock sway over his preferred social media platform and dodge obligations to promote its best interests, experts warned Monday.

Text size:

News last week that the controversy-courting Tesla boss had become Twitter's largest shareholder sparked a roller coaster of developments that ended with the platform's CEO saying Musk had walked away.

Close watchers of the firm speculated about what could come next, but saw potentially ominous signs in the world's richest person's intentions regarding Twitter.

"This now goes from a Cinderella story with Musk joining the Twitter board and keeping his stake under 14.9 percent, helping move Twitter strategically forward, to likely a 'Game of Thrones' battle between Musk and Twitter," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a note to investors.

Musk's deal to join the board included an agreement to keep his share in the company under 15 percent.

But now, he can continue to amass stock and push for change without having to play nice with Twitter board members, said Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart.

"Everyone seems to think Musk wants a bigger part of the company than the board would let him have," said Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi.

"He would never have followed the rules, it doesn't suit him," she said of Musk joining the board.

Musk fired off a series of barbs at Twitter over the weekend that have since vanished.

The tweets included ideas for the platform, such as giving blue authentication check marks to paying Twitter Blue subscribers and turning the company's San Francisco office into a homeless shelter because employees don't use it.

Possible scenarios now include Musk trying to force his will on Twitter, or even push to sell the company, said Ives.

Musk could also decide the game is over and shift focus to his many other endeavors, such as electric cars, space exploration and even linking human brains to computers, Ives added.

- Critic or conquerer? -

A tech world star with more than 81 million followers on the microblogging platform, Musk last week disclosed a purchase of 73.5 million shares -- or 9.2 percent -- of Twitter's common stock.

Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal had announced that Musk would be joining the board, describing him as "a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need."

Musk himself tweeted that he was "looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!"

Musk's appointment to the board was to be contingent on a background check and a requirement that he would have to act in the best interests of the company once appointed, Agrawal said in a statement.

The only response from Musk on the announcement of his rejection of the seat has been a smirking emoji, posted on Monday.

Musk's reversal of position regarding the board came after he tweeted asking whether the social media network was "dying" and to call out users such as singer Justin Bieber, who are highly followed but rarely post.

He recently conducted a poll about a long-desired edit button at Twitter and once quipped in a tweet that the company should remove the "w" from its name.

"It seems like Musk has all of these ideas that he is pulling out of a hat," Milanesi said. "It is clear that he does whatever he wants to do."

And while the serial entrepreneur has a devoted cadre of fans, having millions of Twitter followers doesn't mean he knows best how to make money from the unique one-to-many messaging platform, she added.

"There really is room for Twitter to grow its subscription revenue and advertising beyond what it is today, so perhaps Musk sees this as an investment," Greengart said.

"Or perhaps he is just doing it for the 'lolz,'" he added, referring to internet slang for making a joke at someone else's expense.

G.Gopinath--DT