Elon Musk declines invitation to join the Twitter board, fueling 'Battle of the Game of Thrones' speculation

After the 50-year-old founder of Tesla and SpaceX became the social media platform's biggest shareholder with a 9.2% stake, CEO Parag Agrawal announced Sunday that Musk has turned down an invitation to join the board of directors.

"This is what I can share about what happened," Agrawal, 37, wrote to Twitter staff, whom he also tweeted. "The board also I have had many discussions about Elon joining the board and directly with Elon. We are excited to work together and clarify the risks. However, we also feel that Elon as the company's trustee, where he, like all board members, must act in the most pleasing interests of the company and all of our shareholders, is the best way forward. So the council offered him a seat."

"We announced on Tuesday that Elon will be appointed to the leadership contingent following official review and acceptance," Agrawal added. "Elon's appointment to the board will take effect [Saturday], but Elon said this morning that he will no longer be joining the board. I think it's the best. We have and will always value the contributions of our shareholders, whether they are on our Board of Directors or not.

"There will be disruption going forward, but our goals and priorities remain the same." "The decisions we make and how we tool them are in our hands, not in the hands of others. So let's reduce the noise and focus on work and what we're building."

According to Forbes, CNBC, and NPR, the deal Musk must make to secure a seat on the board stipulates that he can collect no more than 14.9% of Twitter shares. Musk can now buy as many shares as he wants when he declines the invitation, potentially leaving the company vulnerable to a takeover.

"It's now moving from a story about Cinderella where Musk joins Twitter's board of directors to a possible Game of Thrones fight between Musk and Twitter," said Dan Ives, a Wedbush analyst. He covers Musk's electric car company, aloud Tesla Forbes.