Elon Musk 'drops out' of Twitter board: Was it the background check, ask users

Elon Musk reacted to Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal's tweet with a suppressed laughter emoji, but deleted it soon after. 

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal's announcement that the company's largest shareholder Elon Musk will not be joining the board has come as a shocker, with many asking for an explanation or at least Musk's side of the story.

According to the note shared by Parag Agrawal on Monday, the tech billionaire would have been appointed to the board "contingent on a background check" and formal acceptance. "Elon's appointment to the board was to become effective from April 9, but he shared on the same morning that he will no longer be joining the board," Agrawal wrote.

Twitter users, however, have been wondering if it was the background check mandated by the company which was the deal breaker.

US sports commentator Keith Olbermann tweeted, "Elon Musk declines seat on Twitter board rather than undergo its routine background check."

"My hunch tells me Elon Musk didn’t want to be limited by the ownership cap that board members are subject to, but there’s a weird implication in this note that his decision to back out was related to a background check...," Behavioral scientist Caroline Orr Bueno commented.

The background check. pic.twitter.com/gFRxrgah96

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) April 11, 2022

Here's Twitter CEO's announcement that @elonmusk will not be joining the board. Notice the corporate language like "fiduciary", "background check", "has to act in best interests of company"... I wonder if they put a lot of restrictions on what he could and could not say. — Dave Lee (@heydave7) April 11, 2022

I repeat.. @elonmusk could not pass a background check for the Board.. something is wrong here https://t.co/i2GQ52QuQR — Chaseme (@Jcen80) April 11, 2022

There are also speculations that under the Twitter agreement, Musk was prohibited from amassing more than 14.9 per cent of company stock as long as he remains a director on board -- which may not have gone down well with the billionaire. He currently owns 9.2 per cent of the microblogging site and is the largest shareholder.

Here are a few other reactions from the microblogging site:

He will be able to wholly own it now that he refused to join the board. So, yes, once he gains 51% shares of the company, he can basically do whatever he wants, and change the company name.

— Andrew (@AndrewOptimus) April 11, 2022

Not taking the board seat relieves @elonmusk of the commitment not to buy more than 14.9% of the company, right? So he's free to try an activist takeover? Is that the plan? — Bill Murphy Jr. (@BillMurphyJr) April 11, 2022

Whatever the reason is sounds to me like Elon is going to go on the offensive, either by buying Twitter or creating/partnering with a rival https://t.co/v9D7DyuyIO

— FreddieRaynolds (@FreddieRaynolds) April 11, 2022

Elon Musk -- who is usually active on Twitter and had posted a series of tweets over the weekend -- has remained uncharacteristically silent after the announcement. He did react to Agrawal's tweet with a suppressed laughter emoji, but deleted it soon after.