Musk was due to be appointed to the Twitter board on Saturday, but the world’s richest man informed the company on the day that he would not actually take the board.
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Twitter shareholders voted Wednesday to release Egon Durban, co-executive and managing director of private investment firm Silver Lake, from the board of directors as the company goes through test talks with prospective buyer Elon Musk.
Durban’s company has worked on deals with Musk in the past. He did not receive enough votes from Twitter investors to be re-elected to the company’s board, according to a vote at the company’s shareholders’ meeting.
The calculation comes after Musk agreed to buy Twitter in a $ 44 billion deal. The news of the acquisition caused shockwaves in Twitter’s investment base and its workforce. But after shares of Twitter fell along with the rest of the market, Musk has since expressed deep reluctance to the deal, saying the company was not truthful or transparent about the distribution of bots online.
Tesla shares fell sharply after Musk’s offer on Twitter due to fears that the billionaire, who already has a huge extra job as CEO of SpaceX, will be even more distracted.
In a statement to CNBC, a Twitter spokesman confirmed the shareholders’ vote.
“In line with the company’s corporate governance guidelines, Egon Durban has resigned from the board, and the effectiveness of such a resignation depends on the board’s acceptance of such a resignation,” the spokesman said in an email. “The Board’s Nominations and Corporate Governance Committee will immediately consider recommending that the Board accept Mr Durban’s resignation and provide an update in time.”
Twitter said it would have more details in the SEC’s documentation, which it plans to release late Wednesday.
Durban, through Silver Lake, is a longtime business partner and supporter of Musk’s companies. His investment firm’s clean energy division poured $ 100 million into Musk’s solar business, SolarCity, before being acquired by Tesla, which Musk manages. And when Musk announced in 2018 that he would take Tesla privately, he said he was working with Silver Lake as a financial adviser. This deal never happened.
Both men are currently aboard the entertainment conglomerate Endeavor, led by Ari Emanuel.
Silver Lake did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
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