Elon Musk is joining the board of Twitter.

The company disclosed the news in a securities filing on Tuesday, one day after Musk revealed that he had bought a 9.2 per cent stake in the social media giant, a purchase that appeared to make him its largest shareholder. The news sent Twitter’s shares skyrocketing more than 20 per cent on Monday.

Musk had been quiet on his intentions for the purchase, which was worth about $2.9 billion before it was disclosed but has risen sharply in value since. He registered with a securities document called a 13G filing, indicating that he planned for the investment to be passive and that he did not intend to pursue a larger role .

Twitter’s Tuesday announcement said that there were no “arrangements or understandings” between Musk and Twitter that led to his director role. Musk is set to be appointed to a board seat that expires in 2024. For as long as he is serving on the Twitter board, and for 90 days after if he chose to step down, he would not be allowed to own more than 14.9 per cent of Twitter’s stock, either individually or as a member of a group.

“Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our board,” Twitter’s chief executive, Parag Agrawal, tweeted on Tuesday.

“Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming month,” Musk tweeted in reply.

Twitter poll

Musk has criticised the company in recent weeks for failing in his view to adhere to free speech principles.

On Monday, Musk posted a Twitter poll asking users whether they wanted a long sought-after capability to edit tweets, perhaps a hint that he wanted to influence features offered by the company.

“Do you want an edit button?” Musk asked. Agrawal responded to his tweet with an apparent reference to an earlier post from Musk: “The consequences of this poll will be important,” Agrawal wrote on Monday. “Please vote carefully.”

(New York Times News Service)