Elon Musk won’t join Twitter board, can thus exceed 14.9% ownership cap

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Elon Musk will not be joining Twitter's board of directors, dropping out of a deal that would have prohibited him from buying more than 14.9 percent of the company's stock. Musk had agreed to join the board after purchasing 9.2 percent of Twitter's stock, but Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal last night announced that Musk pulled out of the pending agreement.

Agrawal posted a note he sent to Twitter employees, which said:

We announced on Tuesday that Elon would be appointed to the Board contingent on a background check and formal acceptance. Elon's appointment to the board was to become officially effective 4/9, but Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board. I believe this is for the best. We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our Board or not. Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input.

Musk revealed a week ago that he had purchased nearly 73.5 million Twitter shares, which are now worth over $3 billion. If the SpaceX and Tesla CEO had followed through on the agreement to join Twitter's board, he would have had to abide by a stock-purchasing limit detailed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

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