“Poison pill” to protect Twitter from Musk takeover

Tesla boss Elon Musk wants to buy Twitter. Despite his wealth, the richest person in the world faces high hurdles. One of them is set up by the platform itself.

The online service Twitter is defending itself against the attempted hostile takeover by the technology entrepreneur Elon Musk. The board of directors approved a plan that strengthens the rights of current shareholders, the US company announced on Friday. Musk, who recently joined Twitter as a major shareholder, is making it more difficult for him to buy up the rest of the company’s shares.

The plan — a so-called “poison pill” — will allow shareholders to buy more shares, according to the information. It is also planned that in the event of a possible takeover of the company through the large-scale purchase of shares, the buyer will have to pay a so-called control premium to the other shareholders. This is a contribution that is above the market value of the shares.

Musk plans to spend around $43 billion

The “poison pill” will reduce the likelihood that “any institution, person or group” will gain control of the company by acquiring shares on the open market without paying all shareholders a “reasonable control premium,” Twitter said.

Musk, the founder of the electric car manufacturer Tesla and the space company SpaceX, had announced the previous day that he wanted to buy all remaining Twitter shares at a price of 54.20 dollars (49.69 euros) after becoming a major shareholder in Twitter. Musk put the value of Twitter at around $43 billion.

However, the star entrepreneur admitted on Thursday that he was “not sure” that he would succeed in taking over Twitter.