Tesla CEO Elon Musk Chides Twitter Board As Company Adopts 'Poison Pill'

On April 14, Musk, the second-biggest shareholder of Twitter, has offered to buy the microblogging site for $54.20 per share in cash, representing a 54 per cent premium over January 28 closing price

Elon Musk had launched a poll on Thursday asking his 8 crore followers if "taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board", to which a large majority of his followers said, "Yes". Image: Getty

New Delhi: Elon Musk, chief executive officer (CEO) at Tesla, on Monday criticised the board of Twitter after the social media firm adopted a ‘poison pill’ to protect itself from Musk’s $43-billion cash buyout offer, according to a report in Reuters.

On April 14, Billionaire Musk, the second-biggest shareholder of Twitter, has offered to buy the microblogging site for $54.20 per share in cash, representing a 54 per cent premium over the January 28 closing price.

Twitter in a statement on April 15 said, “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.”

"Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that's ~$3M/year saved right there," Musk tweeted in response to a user's post criticizing the board.

Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that’s ~$3M/year saved right there

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 18, 2022

Twitter’s board unanimously adopted ‘poison pill’ or the shareholder rights plan on Friday in a bid to counter Musk’s hostile takeover.

SpaceX founder Musk, a self-described ‘free speech absolutist’ who has been a vocal critic of Twitter's policies, however, did not clarify much on the tweet. Twitter also did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment.

Musk had launched a poll on Thursday asking his 8 crore followers if "taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board", to which a large majority of his followers said, "Yes".

He also tweeted an Elvis Presley song, "Love Me Tender", after Twitter opted a plan to offload shares at a discount to prevent further attempt by shareholders to amass a stake of more than 15 per cent. Currently, Musk has acquired 9.1 per cent stake in Twitter.

In an another development, Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, in a series of tweets called out the board on Saturday, saying "it's consistently been the dysfunction of the company."

Dorsey's statement was a reply to a tweet by venture capitalist Garry Tan who said: "The wrong partner on your board can literally make a billion dollars in value evaporate."

According to the report, shares of Twitter were up about 4 per cent at $46.85, which is significantly below Musk’s offer of $54.20 apiece. They have risen about 15 per cent since Musk disclosed his stake on April 4.

In the meantime, Thoma Bravo, a technology-focused private equity firm that had more than $103 billion in assets under management as of the end of December, has also informed Twitter that it was exploring the possibility of putting together a bid.