One of the hottest topics discussed around the globe includes the infamous Twitter Shakeup. Haven’t heard about it yet? Well, don’t you worry because we have got it covered!
Let us travel back to when the yearly shareholder meeting was held. Twitter Director, Egon Durban who is also the Co-Chief Executive Officer of a private equity firm, was unsuccessful in his attempts to gather enough votes for his reappointment to the board.
Not only this, but an advisory firm called Institutional Shareholders Services had earlier consulted against the former’s re-election to the board. What was the purpose of this recommendation, you may ask? It was because he already serves as an official on the elite boards of more than a quintet of publicly-listed huge corporations.
On the other hand, Jack Dorsey opted to let go of his position as the CEO of the social network company. This action did not come as a surprise to others as the American internet entrepreneur had already mentioned his desire to leave the board. He played a major role in the founding of Twitter in the year 2006, and had been a director in the firm since 2007, before giving a formal resignation; last year. Thus, he is deprived of his rights as a board member. With that being said, Dorsey’s exit serves as an observation for the first time in Twitter’s more-than-a-decade-long history that neither are any of its co-founders still working at the company nor are they conducting themselves on the board.
As per the micro-blogging service-providing company’s proxy statement, it is being said that Durban; though, paying heed to the fact that he failed to gain the majority amount of shareholder votes, may still continue to serve his term as the director.
In addition, included in the proxy statement was a requirement that the board nominees need to fulfil. They are required to propose an “irrevocable resignation” before the voting session. This kind of resignation would apply if and when a nominee does not manage to gain the approval of all shareholders and the board then acknowledges the letter of resignation. Besides, the board has the power to give the red light to the said resignation. This; in turn, will leave the concerned nominee still responsible as a director.
A Twitter official reports that Egon Durban’s resignation has reached the table of the board. However, whether or not it shall be considered is still a question of many.
Another controversial affair revolving around this San Francisco-based company is yet to be confronted in the article: an impending purchase by multi-billionaire and tycoon Elon Musk. His offer and vision to take the company private for a whopping $44 billion were made to the acquaintance of the board members.
Current Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal was not very vocal regarding the deal until he issued a statement that said, “A lot has happened over the past several weeks. I have been focused on the company and have not said much publicly during this time, but I will now.” On the same note, he gave details concerning Twitter’s genuine hiring pause and Musk’s.
Twitter’s potential owner-to-be said that the deal saw itself coming to a pause, stating that as much as 5 percent of users sum up as spam/fake accounts. Nevertheless, in due course of time, he said that he is still willing to make the purchase. Being the world’s richest person, he has guaranteed some drastic changes once the networking service comes under his control.
So far, all that we know is that Musk has signed a merger agreement where the two sides agreed on a legal arrangement that allows the former to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share.
Another person to refuse the re-election of the board was Robert Zoellick, Director since 2018. He was also a former President of the World Bank while Patrick Pichette, Google’s former Finance Chief, was re-elected.
It must come to the knowledge of readers that the other seven director seats were not under consideration for restoration this year. Also, an offer, passed along the lines, was turned down by shareholders that required them to stand for re-election each year.
After all this drama, there is only little clarity on this chaotic Twitter shakeup.
Written by Miloni Chheda
Edited by Kushi Mayur
