[OrlandoHakim]

I think it’s more likely that Elon wants to keep his options open. As a board member he would have a fiduciary duty’s that would prevent him from doing certain things. Most notably, it would keep him from purchasing more shares and orchestrating a hostile takeover by way of taking a majority stake in Twitter.

[OrlandoHakim]

In other words, taking a board seat would have limited him to holding no more than 14.9% of Twitter shares. Now he can take control if he wants.