Elon Musk won't join Twitter board: Others who wanted to buy Twitter
What do rich people do with all that money? If they aren’t investing in weird shenanigans, then they are throwing away billions of dollars on their whims and fancies. The world’s richest man Elon Musk is among them. He amused himself and probably the rest of the world when he bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter, his favourite social media app that he loves to criticise.
Soon, official announcements came in from the CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, its co-founder Jack Dorsey; and even Musk himself, that being the largest shareholder at the company, he will be joining the Twitter board.
But of course, there had to be another twist. Musk changed his mind at the last moment. Agrawal announced that the eccentric billionaire won’t be joining the board after all. Musk let the Twitter management know on the morning of the day he was supposed to officially join 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,” Agrawal said in the Twitter announcement.
Elon Musk’s reaction as the world became aware of the announcement was a single emoji, sheepishly or playfully laughing... on Twitter, of course. Several of his tweets including the one below and those dissing Twitter in one way or the other have since been deleted. We can only imagine why!
But Elon Musk wouldn’t be the first mega-rich person to have shown interest in Twitter for business and investment – though he’s one who did invest money in the end.
Here are others who either wanted to buy Twitter or own a stake in the micro-blogging site:
1. MARK ZUCKERBERG
The 15th richest man in the world (currently) and the CEO of Facebook – Mark Zuckerberg – had on multiple occasions tried to close a deal on Twitter, which meant a complete buyout. However, as it looks right now, Zuckerberg’s Twitter dream has not yet come true (and we hope it doesn't!).
2. SALESFORCE
Salesforce is a San Francisco-based cloud software company. In 2016, when Twitter was seriously considering selling the company, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was going all guns blazing for a deal. According to reports, he was in love with his vision of aligning Twitter with Salesforce and pushed ahead with a buyout despite protests and concerns by shareholders and advisors.
Ultimately, the buyout did not materialise as Benioff backed off. While it was partly due to the protests by Salesforce’s shareholders, in his book Trailblazer, Benioff revealed that he decided to not pursue the dream when he fell off a curb and sliced his leg open. For him, it was a ‘sign’.
3. ASHTON KUTCHER
Yes, even Hollywood actor Ashton Kutcher once considered investing in Twitter. But he told CNBC in 2016 that he changed his mind as the company had turned into a media platform from originally being a one-to-one platform. Kutcher is known for his Silicon Valley tech investments.
In 2016, the many failed or rejected bids to acquire Twitter made Entrepreneur publish an article titled – Twitter: The Company No One Wants to Buy.
4. LARRY PAGE
Google’s Larry Page once ‘whispered’ an acquisition pitch into Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s ear during a personal meeting he wanted to keep behind the blinds. You can now imagine what Dorsey’s answer would have been. According to reports, it was in 2011 that Page invited Dorsey to Google, escorted him to a conference room on the topmost floor, away from all the prying eyes, drew the blinds to the room, sat very close to the co-founder and whispered the acquisition pitch.
The picture that the description paints would probably have creeped out Dorsey!
5. STEVE BALLMER
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer had acquired a 4% stake in Twitter in 2015, but in 2018, he revealed that he had sold his entire stake. The reason: To move away from investing and follow other pursuits.
Other than these five people; Yahoo, Apple, Disney and the former Vice-President of the US Al Gore; had all once upon a time considered buying a stake at Twitter or acquiring it completely. In Disney’s case, the deal apparently was abandoned as the entertainment conglomerate’s principles and that of Twitter’s were completely different – one example cited was the differences over unkempt facial hair (cue Jack Dorsey).
Twitter is perhaps better off without Musk on its board of directors. But one good thing he did do was add billions of dollars in value to the company just by his investment.