Elon Musk could take more control over Twitter, billionaire’s strange SEC filings show

Mr Musk’s limited control over Twitter was contingent on his board seat, but now that the executive has stepped down he could purchase more control in the company

Elon Musk-Twitter-Edit Button ((c) dpa-Zentralbild POOL)

Elon Musk could buy more control of Twitter in the future, filings to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission reveal.

The news comes after a tumultuous week for the social media company which quickly u-turned on the SpaceX billionaire joining its board.

Mr Musk had initially filed a Schedule 13G form with the SEC on 4 April that caused controversy when his place on Twitter’s board was announced on 5 April.

This is because the form is for investors taking a passive interest in the company, as opposed to those that would have a direct interest in the company by sitting on its board of directors.

Moreover, Elon Musk was 11 days late in publicly declaring his stake in Twitter – a violation that could have generated $156 million for the billionaire. The SEC could hit the chief executive with a fine, but that would likely be limited to only hundreds of thousands of dollars. Neither Mr Musk nor the SEC commented on the violation to the Washington Post.

Mr Musk subsequently filed an updated 13D form stating that he is an “active” investor. This new document means that Mr Musk “may express his views to the Board and/or members of the Issuer’s management team and/or the public through social media or other channels” and “may engage in discussions with the Board”.

The billionaire has had a tumultuous relationship with the platform already, using it to allegedly manipulate the stock price of Tesla, inflate the worth of cryptocurrencies, argue with his ex-wife and musician Grimes, and baselessly accuse Vernon Unsworth of paedophilia.

Mr Musk had recently used Twitter to try and generate momentum for his ideas, This includes an edit button that the social media company later claimed it had been working on since last year, and the suggestion that users should be able to pay to have their accounts authenticated. These tweets have now been deleted.

Ideologically, Mr Musk also promoted himself as a champion of free speech, saying that he was “worried about de facto bias in ‘the Twitter algorithm’ having a major effect on public discourse”. Experts pointed out that Mr Musk fired Tesla employees for criticising the company’s self-driving technology.

Twitter chief Parag Agrawal said that the company would “remain open” to Mr Musk’s input but added that “there will be distractions ahead” and that Mr Musk’s appointment was “contingent on a background check”.

Moreover, the board seat limited Mr Musk to purchasing more than 14.9 per cent of Twitter; it is now unclear whether Mr Musk will purchase more of the company, although experts suggest it was likely he realised that being on the board would diminish his power over the company.

Sources told Reuters that Musk asked Twitter for a board seat weeks before the social media company agreed to the arrangement.

Twitter declined to comment. Mr Musk did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment before time of publication.