Twitter Moves to Block Elon Musk From Increasing Stake
The social-media company takes the step a day after the tech entrepreneur made a $43 billion unsolicited takeover bid
Twitter confirmed its board would review Elon Musk’s proposal.
PHOTO: LAURA MORTON FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Cara Lombardo
Updated April 15, 2022 12:37 pm ET
Twitter Inc. moved to prevent Elon Musk from significantly increasing his stake the day after he made a $43 billion unsolicited takeover bid for the social-media company.
The company on Friday adopted a so-called poison pill that makes it difficult for him to increase his stake beyond 15%. The billionaire founder of Tesla Inc. already owns a more than 9% stake that he revealed earlier this month.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Twitter was weighing such a move.
Poison pills, also called shareholder-rights plans, are legal maneuvers that make it hard for shareholders to build their stakes beyond a set point by triggering an option for others to buy more shares at a discount. They are often used by companies that receive hostile takeover bids to buy themselves time to consider their options.
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