Tesla boss, Elon Musk has said he will cut the salaries of Twitter’s board of directors to $0 if he succeeds in his bid to acquire the company.
Gatekeepers News reports that Musk, who is Twitter’s largest individual shareholder, revealed that the idea will save $3 million a year onboard members’ salaries if he takes over the company.
The social media company currently has 11 board members, including co-founder Jack Dorsey and recently-appointed chief executive officer Parag Agrawal.
“Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that’s $3 million per year saved right there,” Musk tweeted on Monday in response to a tweet by investment advisor Gary Black who pointed out that Twitter boards’ interests are not aligned with the shareholders.
“The $TWTR board’s interests aren’t aligned with TWTR shareholders. The board serves to represent shareholders. If they refuse to act in the best interest of shareholders, they should be removed and replaced by new board members who understand their fiduciary obligations,” Black tweeted.
He added that if Musk acquires Twitter, the board members would lose their $250,000 -$300,000 per year jobs.
“Let me point out something obvious: If @elonmusk takes $TWTR private, the TWTR board members don’t have jobs any more, which pays them $250K-$300K per year for what is a nice part-time job. That could explain a lot.”
Twitter gives approximately $2.9 million in cash and stock awards to board members, according to a filing with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Responding to another tweet that pointed out that the top 12 Twitter shareholders except for Musk collectively own about 77 shares of the micro-blogging site, the tech billionaire said that apart from founder Jack Dorsey, “the Twitter board collectively owns almost no shares!”
“Objectively, their economic interests are simply not aligned with shareholders,” Musk tweeted.
The $TWTR board’s interests aren’t waligned with TWTR shareholders. The board serves to represent shareholders. If they refuse to act in the best interest of SHs, they should be removed and replaced by new board members who understand their fiduciary obligations. https://t.co/MqsysyktkT
— Gary Black (@garyblack00) April 17, 2022
Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that’s ~$3M/year saved right there
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 18, 2022
Wow, with Jack departing, the Twitter board collectively owns almost no shares! Objectively, their economic interests are simply not aligned with shareholders.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2022
