Shareholder activism is on the rise. And guess what? Elon Musk — loudmouth proponent of electric cars, gas-guzzling rockets and multiple other contradictions — is its new protagonist.
Musk’s much-discussed bid for Twitter, the social media platform he has used for all his choice pronouncements, has superseded what briefly looked like a more normal activist investment in line with the Elliotts and Icahns of the world. On April 4, it was disclosed that the maverick entrepreneur had become Twitter’s biggest shareholder, with a 9 per cent stake. Within days he had been offered, and accepted, a seat on the board with an apparent mission to play the role of an outside agitator.
Traditional moulds, of course, are not for Musk. And befitting an iconoclast in a hurry, he soon changed his mind, deciding not to join the board after all, instead accumulating the financial backing to launch a full-blown $43bn bid for Twitter. How the tale ends is anyone’s guess, given uncertainty over the solidity of the funding, the toxicity of Twitter’s “poison pill” defence and the history of Musk’s clashes with regulators, particularly the Securities and Exchange Commission which has jurisdiction over acquisitions.