Elon Musk's ally Egon Durban will not leave Twitter's board, company says

Shareholders voted to boot Mr Durban from the board on Wednesday

Egon Durban, co-chief executive of of private equity firm Silver Lake. AFP

Twitter's board member Egon Durban, an ally of billionaire Elon Musk, will not leave the company’s board, even though he proposed to resign after shareholders chose to remove him from the post this week, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

The microblogging platform's shareholders voted to boot Mr Durban, who is also the co-chief executive and managing director of private equity firm Silver Lake, at an annual meeting on Wednesday. After failing to get enough votes for the re-election, Mr Durban offered his resignation.

Mr Durban, who currently serves on the board of several other public companies, did not receive Twitter’s shareholders’ majority vote because of his commitment to other companies, the social media platform said.

Last month, Twitter entered a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by billionaire businessman Elon Musk. Reuters

“While the board does not believe that Mr Durban’s other public company directorships will become an impediment if such engagements were to continue, Mr Durban’s commitment to reduce his board service commitment to five public company boards by the remediation date appropriately addresses the concerns raised by stockholders,” Twitter said in the filing.

“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.”

Mr Durban currently serves on the boards of six other publicly traded companies. However, he agreed to reduce his board service commitment to no more than five public company boards by May 25 next year, Twitter said.

Having joined Silver Lake in 1999 as a founding principal, Mr Durban has served as a member of Twitter’s board of directors since March 2020.

“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,” Twitter said.

“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.”

Mr Durban was on the company’s board when it agreed to approve Mr Musk’s bid to buy Twitter.

Last month, Twitter entered a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by the billionaire businessman for $54.20 a share in cash for a total of $44 billion.