Business & Economy

Twitter moves to thwart Musk’s bid for company

New York, Apr 15 (EFE).- Twitter’s board of directors announced Friday the adoption of a “poison pill” aimed at thwarting Elon Musk’s $43 billion bid for control of the social media company.

The central element of what the board calls a Rights Plan is a mechanism intended to make it difficult for any individual or group to acquire 15 percent or more of the shares without board approval.

Under the plan, which is set to expire on April 14, 2023, a stake that reaches the 15 percent threshhold will trigger the application of a discount for purchases of additional shares by other shareholders.

Musk, reputedly the world’s wealthiest person, currently holds 9.2 percent of Twitter.

“The Rights Plan will reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group gains control of Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium or without providing the Board sufficient time to make informed judgments and take actions that are in the best interests of shareholders,” the directors said in a statement.

Musk disclosed early this month that he had accumulated 9.2 percent of Twitter a series of purchases going back to January, giving him a larger stake in the firm than any other individual investor.

Twitter responded to the disclosure by offering him a seat on the board, which the Tesla CEO accepted, only to reverse course last Saturday.

“After the past several days of thinking this over, I have decided I want to acquire the company and take it private,” Musk said Thursday in a text to Twitter board chair Bret Taylor.

“I am offering to buy 100 percent of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54 percent premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter,” the South African-born mogul said. “My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.”

Musk said Thursday at the TED2022 conference in Vancouver, Canada, that he was “not sure” his bid will be accepted by a sufficient number of Twitter shareholders.

“I do think this will be somewhat painful, I don’t know if I’ll be able to acquire it,” he said, insisting that his attempt to acquire Twitter was not motivated by pursuit of profit.

“This is not a way to make money, my strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization, I don’t care about the economics at all,” Musk said.

The 50-year-old billionaire has been critical of Twitter for actions such as its suspension of the account of former President Donald Trump. EFE hc/dr

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