'Game of Thrones': How Musk-Twitter war could get worse in coming days

After Tesla CEO Elon Musk decided to reject a seat on Twitter’s board of directors, the company’s CEO Parag Agrawal had warned of “distractions ahead”. That has come true.

Musk, who has been a critic of the social media platform, had even recently asked on the same microblogging website, “Is Twitter dying?”

Most of these “top” accounts tweet rarely and post very little content.

Is Twitter dying? https://t.co/lj9rRXfDHE

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2022

Last month, he had questioned Twitter for failing to “adhere to free speech principles” and ran a poll. Also, he asked his 81 million-plus followers whether a new platform was needed. He had also suggested ideas among others, an edit button on Twitter.

Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.

What should be done? https://t.co/aPS9ycji37

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 26, 2022

Musk, the world’s richest person, is Twitter’s biggest shareholder with a 9% stake in the company. If he had joined the board, he could not have acquired more than 14.9% in the social media platform as per a standstill agreement.

The Musk-Twitter war has traversed multiple battlegrounds and there is more to come. As one analyst put it, it will be a Game of Thrones battle.

According to media reports, Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, in a note to investors, said, “This now goes from a Cinderella story with Musk joining the Twitter board and keeping his stake under 14.9% helping move Twitter strategically forward to likely a Game of Thrones battle between Musk and Twitter with the high likelihood that Elon takes a more hostile stance towards Twitter and further builds his active stake in the company.”

“This decision (not joining the board) by Elon does not bode well for Twitter… Twitter thought having Trump on the platform was tough. Elon Musk is going to be a corporate nightmare,” Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, told Bloomberg.

Greater influence sans board seat

Musk’s decision to avoid the board seat could in some ways give him more influence over the company, said a report in The Washington Post.

Now, Musk could join forces with other shareholders to force Twitter’s hand. As a new CEO, experts say Agrawal is particularly vulnerable to an effort to oust him. Musk could gather enough shareholder votes to replace board members and ultimately oust Agrawal, it added.

Agrawal has said that the company will remain open to Musk’s “input”.

Musk’s decision to not join the board has also affected some of the Twitter staff. One of them said Musk’s immediate “chilling effect bothered me significantly”.

“This is going to sound funny but Musk’s immediate chilling effect was something that bothered me significantly. Twitter has a beautiful culture of hilarious constructive criticism, and I saw that go silent because of his minions attacking employees,” Rumman Chowdhury, a director on Twitter’s AI research team, wrote on the site.

This is going to sound funny but Musks immediate chilling effect was something that bothered me significantly. Twitter has a beautiful culture of hilarious constructive criticism, and I saw that go silent because of his minions attacking employees.

— Rumman Chowdhury (@ruchowdh) April 11, 2022

On Tuesday, as per a Los Angeles Times report, Musk was sued by a Twitter shareholder who claimed his delay in disclosing his ownership of more than 5% of the social media company artificially kept its share price down.

Marc Bain Rasella sued Musk, accusing him of securities fraud, in federal court Tuesday in Manhattan, claiming Musk was required to disclose his holdings to the Securities and Exchange Commission by March 24. Musk’s delay in filing the disclosure enabled him to buy more shares at a lower price and cheated the sellers of Twitter sales of increased profits, Rasella claims, the report said.

Elon has decided not to join our board. I sent a brief note to the company, sharing with you all here. pic.twitter.com/lfrXACavvk

— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 11, 2022

The investor said that, when Musk filed the form revealing his Twitter stake, company shares rose 27 per cent, from $39.31 on April 1 to $49.97 on April 4. Rasella is seeking to represent a class of investors who sold Twitter shares from March 24 to April 1, it added.

In the days ahead, it will be interesting to see how Musk-Twitter war pans out.