Elon Musk is locked in a tough battle for control of Twitter. Shortly after taking over more than 9% of the shares of the social network, he now wants to be in control of the corporation, which has not been slow to put clauses to curb his claims. The tycoon’s proposal generates the unknown: Why does he want to be the largest shareholder of the social network of the little blue bird?
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The founder and CEO of Tesla decided to launch a takeover bid for more shares of that social network. He offered US$43.394 million dollars (its current value is US$36,000 million.) In order to gain control of 15% of the company’s shares.
The tycoon offered US$54.20 for each Twitter share, which represents a 54% premium compared to January 28, when Musk began buying shares, Twitter explains in a statement sent to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. United States (SEC). Today, Elon Musk is the main shareholder with 9.2% of the shares.
WHY DOES ELON MUSK WANT CONTROL OF TWITTER?
The richest man in the world, with a fortune of US$219 billion, has been facing the board of the social network Twitter because he wants to become the largest shareholder, making a powerful offer and threatening to withdraw if they do not accept it. But why is he stubborn about the little blue bird’s social network?
The first theory is based on what the tycoon has already explained: Musk has expressed his dissatisfaction with the management of the platform and when he bought 9% of the shares he announced that he would “Important changes were coming”. Although he was given a share of the board, the richest man in the world wants to be in control. Among the changes that Musk announces is withdrawing Twitter from the stock market listing.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX insists that his interest in the social network is expressly due to his interest in the proper use of the “freedom of expression across the planet”. And it is that he considers that freedom of expression is a “social imperative in a democracy.” This was hinted at by himself on the platform.
Musk is an active user of Twitter and since his bill On the same platform, where he has more than 82 million followers, he has been struggling with his purchase. On April 21 he promised that “If our Twitter bid is successful, we will either beat the spam bots or die trying. stop bots and spam”. In the story thread he added: “And authenticate all real humans”.
On Friday, April 15, it should be remembered, Musk expressed in his platform account “Thank you for the support!” with a survey conducted by “Bitcoin Archive”, titled “Do you want Elon Musk to buy Twitter?”. 73% of the 19,494 voters answered “yes”. But he also asked his own question: “Make of Twitter A private company at $54.20 should be a stockholder issue and not a Board issue?” More than 83% of the 2.9 million votes were in favor of “yes”.
WHAT IS THE POISON PILL?
The poison pill it’s a move that makes it harder for one shareholder to accumulate too much stake without board approval, by activating an option that allows other investors to buy more of the company’s shares at a discount. That would greatly increase the price that Musk would have to pay to take full control of the social network.
It will be activated if Musk exceeds 15% of shares in the company without the authorization of the board. The South African tycoon, owner of the electric car company Tesla and the aerospace company SpaceX, currently owns a little more than 9% of the share capital of Twitter.
The plan “will reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group will gain control of Twitter through open market hoarding without paying all shareholders an adequate control premium or giving sufficient time to the board of directors to make informed decisions.” said a statement from the San Francisco-based company.
Twitter It thus shows that it plans to resist the popular businessman’s proposal to buy the social network and make it a closed capital company.
