In early April, Elon Musk and Twitter revealed that the SpaceX and Tesla executive had acquired the 9.2% of the shares of the social network, thus becoming the majority shareholder. Less than two weeks later Musk is trying to acquire 100% company, and now Twitter has announced how it plans to prevent it.
The last few days have been very hectic in the world of social networks and the more corporate side of the internet. In what looks like an episode of the series Succession but in real life, Musk became in majority shareholder of Twitter, announced that he would be part of the board of directors and shortly after he changed his mind (possibly because that would prevent him from acquiring many more shares), and his next strategic move has been attempt a hostile takeoveroffering a high and attractive figure for each share and threatening that, if his offer is rejected, he would consider disposing of the shares he already owns, which could significantly affect the overall share price.
Twitter’s board of directors seems determined to prevent Musk from acquiring the company and taking it private, taking 100% of the shares. In a communiquéTwitter has announced an “investor rights plan” to block Musk’s hostile takeover attempt. That plan would be what’s known as a “poison pill” in the investment world, meaning that Twitter would free up a lot of stock for existing shareholders to buy at a discount, with the exception of the one trying to make the hostile takeover, i.e. Musk.
According to recent statements by Elon Musk, the board of directors would be “irresponsible if it does not put this offer to the shareholders for a vote.” So far, the apparent strategy of Twitter and his board is to directly prevent Musk from taking over the company entirely. The next few days will be decisive for the social network. [[Twitter via Verge]