CALIFORNIA: Twitter’s board of directors has adopted a so-called ‘poison pill’ strategy in a bid to prevent Elon Musk’s $43 billion hostile takeover. Also known as a shareholder rights provision, the plan announced on Friday would trigger a dilution of company shares if any shareholder builds up a 15 percent stake without the board’s approval. The plan does not prevent Twitter from accepting Musk’s offer or entering negotiations with him or other potential buyers — but it will stop him from putting pressure on the board by buying up ever more shares on the open market. Musk, the world’s richest man, currently owns a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter and is seeking to take the company private in an unsolicited bid of $54.20 per share, well above Thursday’s closing price. Twitter said in a statement that its poison pill plan is ‘similar to other plans adopted by publicly held companies in comparable circumstances’. ‘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,’ Twitter said. –Agencies
