- President Museveni's son backs Ugandan strongman for 7th term
- Norris quickest as Verstappen bounces back in Singapore practice
- Wallabies lament All Blacks' fast start
- Germany's Oktoberfest opens under tight security after attacks
- Environmental protesters block French cruise liner port
- Hezbollah in disarray after Israeli strike kills top commanders
- No place like home: Biden hosts 'Quad' leaders
- One dead, 7 missing as heavy rains trigger floods in central Japan
- Zelensky says no UK, US go-ahead to use long-range missiles
- New Zealand edge Australia 31-28 in Bledisloe Cup thriller
- Japan orders evacuations as heavy rains trigger floods in quake-hit area
- New Zealand pilot freed in Indonesia after 19 months in rebel captivity
- Hezbollah in disarray after Israeli air strike kills top commanders
- Leading climate activist released from Vietnam jail
- Ethiopians struggle with bitter pill of currency reform
- Sri Lanka votes in first poll since economic collapse
- Feminist author warns of abortion disaster if Trump wins US election
- US city of Flint still reeling from water crisis, 10 years on
- Arsenal's mean defence faces acid test to shut out Man City again
- Late surge lifts Thailand's Jeeno to LPGA Queen City lead
- DeChambeau says PGA's Ryder Cup decision 'just the start'
- Alcaraz defeated on Laver Cup debut
- Postecoglou embraces 'struggle' to make Spurs a success
- Nice hand 'ashamed' Saint-Etienne 8-0 Ligue 1 mauling
- Boeing CEO says ending strike 'a top priority'
- Stock markets mostly fall after Fed-fueled rally
- Harris slams Trump for hypocrisy on abortion as US starts voting
- Academy to host first overseas ceremony to honor young filmmakers
- No doctor necessary: US okays nasal spray flu vaccine for self-use
- Gurbaz, birthday boy Rashid lead Afghanistan to 177-run rout of South Africa
- Former delivery man Baldwin leads star names at PGA Championship
- Trump shooting: Secret Service admits complacency
- Can an ambitious Milei make Argentina an AI giant?
- Haiti, its suffering growing, in 'race against time': UN expert
- Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah elite unit commander wanted by the US
- Chinese forward Cui signs NBA contract with Brooklyn Nets
- US Fed dissenter calls for 'measured' pace of rate cuts
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload as Kompany demands cap on games
- Norway limits wild salmon fishing as stocks hit new lows
- Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
- Rotterdam fatal knife attacker suspected of 'terrorist motive'
- First early votes cast in knife-edge US presidential election
- Top-ranked Swiatek out of Beijing due to 'personal matters'
- Hard-right Reform UK looks to the future after vote success
- Embiid agrees to NBA contract extension with 76ers
- Joshua aims to complete road to redemption in Dubois bout
- World champion Bagnaia sets pace with lap record at Misano
- Biden says 'working' to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border
- Pope criticises Argentina's crackdown on protesters
- Court limits screenings of videos in France mass rape case
Twitter names Elon Musk to board, further lifting shares
Twitter announced Tuesday that Elon Musk will join its board, one day after the Tesla CEO disclosed a large stake that made him the social media company's largest shareholder.
"I'm excited to share that we're appointing @elonmusk to our board! Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board," Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet.
Musk, who also leads the SpaceX venture and is the world's richest man, had the day prior announced his purchase of 73.5 million shares or 9.2 percent of Twitter's common stock, sending the company's value up more than 27 percent on Wall Street.
The billionaire's investment had fueled speculation about a takeover of the microblogging platform, which is influential in the political and media worlds but for which profitable growth has often proved elusive.
Analysts at Wedbush said the invitation from Agrawal marks "a friendly move by the Twitter board to embrace Musk with open arms" that could lead to significant strategic shifts for a company "still struggling in a social media arms race," according to a note.
But given Musk's penchant for polarizing comments, they advised: "get out the popcorn."
Musk had previously questioned the platform's committment to freedom of speech, echoing a position of Donald Trump's supporters, who hope to see the former US president return to Twitter following a lifetime ban instituted in the wake of the January 6 riot.
Agrawal called Musk "a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need" at the company.
The Twitter CEO also shared a poll posted by Musk to the platform asking whether to add a function to edit tweets, saying, "the consequences of the poll will be important. Please vote carefully."
Musk, for his part, said he was "looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!"
Also applauding was founder Jack Dorsey, who said of Musk, "he cares deeply about our world and Twitter's role in it."
Musk will remain on Twitter's board until the company's annual shareholder's meeting in 2024, and he has promised not to take a stake larger than 14.9 percent in the company during that time, according to a securities filing.
- Political implications? -
The arrival of Musk also cheered some analysts, who have expressed chagrin at the company's performance.
In 2021, Twitter's revenues were $5.1 billion, up 37 percent from 2020, but a fraction of the $33.7 billion reported by Facebook parent Meta.
CFRA Research analyst Angelino Zino applauded the arrival of a "true visionary" in Musk.
"Ultimately, the goal is to better monetize the platform, and we think Musk can only help, not hurt the process, with his recent criticism of the company as a refreshing sign," Zino said, noting that the term's of Musk's stake mean he can't take over the company.
Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, offered a more muted outlook, characterizing Musk as "socially ambitious" and raising the possibility that the Tesla boss will use the platform to promote his ventures.
"Over the longer term, Twitter investors will want to see that high levels of governance are adhered to, otherwise the independence of Twitter could be questioned, and the risk is that users may start to drift away," Streeter said, adding that Musk could also use the intelligence gathered to launch his own platform.
In the political universe, far-right Republican House Representative Lauren Boebert was among those calling for Musk to "lift the political censorship."
"Oh... and BRING BACK TRUMP!" she tweeted.
Two days after the January 6 attack on the US capitol, Twitter announced the "permanent suspension" of Trump's account, citing the "risk of further incitement of violence."
Historian James Fell was among those trying to preempt a Trump Twitter revival, saying if the ex-president is restored, "I'll probably ditch this platform altogether."
Also unhappy was former labor secretary Robert Reich, who tweeted, "What could possibly go wrong with an oligarch determining what constitutes free speech?"
Shares of Twitter rose 4.5 percent to $52.20 in midday trading.
K.Thomson--BTB