Musk Twitter Poll About Making Twitter HQ a Homeless Shelter Goes Viral
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- New Twitter board member Elon Music stirred some controversy Saturday evening with a poll that proposed turning the company's San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter "since no one shows up anyway."
Musk, who became the company's largest shareholder last week after he purchased 9.2% of Twitter stock, posted the poll at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. As of Sunday morning, it had received over 1.5 million votes and was retweeted nearly 22,000 times.
Respondents so far have voted overwhelmingly in favor of the idea with 91.3% voting yes and only 8.7% voting no. While some were questioning if Musk was making a joke with the proposal, he replied to at least one comment claiming he was serious.
Musk has made a number of apparently tongue-in-cheek suggestions about the company since his stock purchase.
A few hours after the poll on turning the headquarters into a shelter, he posted a second poll about removing the "w" in the company's name. "Yes" and "Of course" were the only available responses for the poll.
Musk's large purchase of Twitter stock last Monday sent shares of San Francisco-based social media giant soaring 22% in value early Monday, but the move also raised questions about what he may try to influence on the platform he has often vocally criticized.
According to a Securities and Exchange Commission 13G filing released Monday, the Tesla founder now owns 73,486,938 shares of Twitter, which rose in value from $2.89 billion on Friday to $3.5 billion after the spike early Monday.
Musk's filing did not disclose the purpose of the purchase or any plans for the company. But he has been a high-profile critic of Twitter policies in the past. Last month he said he was giving "serious thought" to creating a new social media platform.
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal took to the social media giant's platform early Tuesday, revealing that Musk would be joining the firm's board of directors.
"I'm excited to share that we're appointing @elonmusk to our board!," Agrawal tweeted. "Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board. "He's both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term. Welcome Elon!"