Elon Musk Again Demonstrates Belief That Rules Do Not Apply To Him

Jack Dorsey says he’s wanted Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors “for a long time.” So we imagine, then, that it’s just a coincidence that time has come just after the Twitter chief dropped somewhere between $2 billion and $3 billion on 74 million Twitter shares.

“Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!” Musk said in a tweet…. Hours after his holding in the company was revealed, Musk took to Twitter to poll users on interest in an edit button. Agrawal retweeted the post, urging people to “vote carefully” as the consequences “will be important.”

Musk, of course, is worth $275 billion, so for him it could all just be a laugh, albeit a lucrative one. (Twitter shares jumped 27% after Musk’s 9.2% stake emerged.) Not laughing at all, as per usual? The Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Tesla Inc. chief executive disclosed his 9.2% holdings in a form investors are required to file when they buy more than 5% of a company’s stock, without planning to seek control. But the notice came several days late. It also didn’t include a standard certification that underscores an investor’s passive status…. “He is making all these claims the SEC is harassing him and going after him for nothing, and if he goes ahead and violates a pretty straightforward rule, that is certainly not going to help his argument with the judge,” said David Rosenfeld, a former senior SEC enforcement attorney now teaching law at Northern Illinois University….

The SEC also could inquire about Mr. Musk’s self-declared stance as a passive shareholder. He hadn’t disclosed his stake before tweeting dissatisfaction with the company’s content-moderation policies in late March, when he raised the question of whether a new social-media platform was needed.

Elon Musk to join Twitter’s board of directors, teases ‘significant improvements’ [CNBC]
Elon Musk’s Twitter Investment Raises New Regulatory Red Flag [WSJ]

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