The week-long drama started when Musk disclosed a 9.1
percent stake in Twitter on April 4 and later said he would take a board seat.
But becoming a director would have prevented Musk from becoming a beneficial
owner of more than 14.9 percent of Twitter's common stock.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, its co-founder Jack Dorsey and
Musk have tweeted their way through agreements, plans and congratulatory
messages since the disclosure.
Here are some tweets Musk published and erased after
disclosing his stake:
April 10, 2022 Musk polled followers on Twitter asking
whether the company's headquarters in San Francisco should be converted into a
homeless shelter. The tweet is now deleted. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had
backed Musk's idea.
On April 10, 2022 Twitter CEO Agrawal shared a note on
Twitter saying that Musk rejected the company's offer to join its board. Musk
deleted the tweet, where he responded with an emoticon with a
face-with-hand-over-mouth.
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
Earlier that day, Musk started a poll asking if
"w" should be deleted from Twitter's name, leaving two voting
options, "yes" and "of course." He deleted that too.
A day before, with respect to Twitter's business model, Musk
tweeted before deleting it: "And no ads. The power of corporations to
dictate policy is greatly enhanced if Twitter depends on advertising money to
survive." Musk also tweeted "Everyone who signs up for Twitter Blue
(i.e. pays $3/month) should get an authentication checkmark" about its
subscription service that offers "exclusive access to premium features"
on a monthly basis. Later, he deleted the tweet.
On April 5, Parag Agrawal also tweeted Musk was being
appointed to Twitter's board. "He's both a passionate believer and intense
critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the
boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term", a follow-on tweet said.
I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
Jack Dorsey also welcomed Musk to Twitter's board in a tweet
and added: "Parag and Elon both lead with their hearts, and they will be
an incredible team."
I’m really happy Elon is joining the Twitter board! He cares deeply about our world and Twitter’s role in it.
— jack⚡️ (@jack) April 5, 2022
Parag and Elon both lead with their hearts, and they will be an incredible team. https://t.co/T4rWEJFAes
Just a day before Agrawal's tweet, Musk posted a Twitter
poll asking users if they wanted an edit button. "Do you want an edit
button?" Musk asked in the tweet, in response to which Agrawal said the
consequences of the poll will be important. "Please vote carefully,"
he tweeted. Earlier that day, tweeting for the first time since the disclosure
of his stake in Twitter, Musk said, "Oh hi lol"
On March 26, Musk said Twitter failing to adhere to free
speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy and asked if new platform
was needed.