Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
Twitter’s (TWTR) business has been up and down since Elon Musk first submitted his offer to acquire the social media company earlier this year. This includes leadership at the company, and the board of directors that agreed to Musk’s proposal. Recently, Twitter (TWTR) shareholders voted to remove Egon Durban from the company’s board of directors, but he has no plans to leave.
Twitter made a regulatory filing earlier today to the SEC, where they revealed that Egon Durban did not receive enough shareholder votes to remain on the company’s board of directors. “Accordingly, the Board has reached the determination that accepting Mr. Durban’s Tendered Resignation at this time is not in the best interests of the Company.” Twitter goes on to explain why it plans to keep Durban around despite him being voted out by shareholders.
The Board considers Mr. Durban a highly effective member and believes that he brings to the Board an unparalleled operational knowledge of the industry, a unique perspective, and an invaluable skill set and experience with mergers and acquisitions. The Board noted that Mr. Durban has strengthened its ability to oversee the Company’s long-term value creation strategy and effectively govern its implementation. Further, Mr. Durban is consistently well-prepared, engaged and a meaningful contributor to Board meetings and discussions.
It’s also worth noting that Durban has connections to Elon Musk, whose deal to acquire Twitter (TWTR) is still pending. Durban previously invested $100 million into SolarCity, which Musk then acquired and now uses as an extension of his Tesla business.
Twitter’s decision to keep Durban around despite shareholders voting otherwise is certainly a bold one. It will be interesting to see if and how the company’s leadership and board further changes following the completion of Elon Musk’s acquisition, should the deal go through.