Did Elon Musk's Twitter Stake, Board Appointment Coincide With His Exit From Another Company?

The world’s richest person is a busy man running two companies as the CEO of both Tesla Inc TSLA and SpaceX.

Elon Musk also founded Neuralink and The Boring Company. He's again in the spotlight this week after joining the board of directors of another public company, and it's a move that potentially could have been predicted earlier this year. 

What Happened: On Monday, a 9.2% stake in Twitter Inc TWTR purchased by Musk was revealed through a 13G filing. The announcement was followed up Tuesday with news that Musk would be appointed to Twitter's board. 

Musk will serve as a Class 2 Director of Twitter with a term expiring at the 2024 annual meeting. Under terms of the agreement, Musk can’t be a beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of Twitter shares while serving on the board or 90 days after.

A new filing Tuesday night showed that Musk started accumulating shares of Twitter on Jan. 31 and bought for 43 days to accumulate his 9.2% stake in the company.

In the middle of buying Twitter shares, Musk announced he was exiting the board of directors of another company. 

It was announced in March 2022 that Musk was leaving the board of Endeavor Group Holdings Inc EDR, with the move expected in June 2022. Variety ran a story on March 16 on the development. Musk signaled his resignation from Endeavor on March 12, according to a SEC report.

Endeavor, which went public in April 2021 at $24 per share, is the owner of WME, IMG, Miss Universe, UFC and other sports and entertainment assets, announced Musk had joined the board prior to its IPO. 

Musk's announced exit from Endeavor's board lines up within a three-day window of when Musk disclosed his stake in Twitter with the SEC.

Related Link: Elon Musk Discloses 9.2% Stake In Twitter Weeks After Criticizing Algorithm: What You Need To Know 

Why It’s Important: While no one knew of the Twitter stake at the time, Musk resigning from the Endeavor board could have signaled that he had a new project or time commitment on his hands.

Many could have seen the resignation as a move to devote more time to companies like Tesla and SpaceX and likely thought nothing more of it. 

Now looking back, the timing matches up with Musk leaving the board of one company and accumulating shares of Twitter and likely planning to its Twitter or otherwise engaging with the company.

Known by many as a workaholic, Musk is now the CEO of two huge companies and also has his hands in several other companies he founded.

While many companies would love to have Musk on the board, he likely doesn’t have enough time to help everyone.

Endeavor hinted at this in this when Musk’s exit was announced.

“We know he has a lot of demands and little time, and we appreciate the support he provided us,” an Endeavor spokesperson told Variety at the time.

With concerns of time commitments across Musk’s many endeavors, some may be disappointed if he doesn’t complete all the tasks Twitter users are requesting of him.

Callouts have been made to Musk to add an edit button to Twitter, add Dogecoin tip jars, reinstate banned accounts, end crypto scams and more. 

TWTR Price Action: Twitter shares were trading 3.3% higher at $52.66 Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro. 

Photo courtesy of Tesla.