Musk's $43 billion bid for Twitter, Twitter's board considers a "poison pill" plan

On April 14, US time, in a document submitted by Twitter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla CEO Elon Musk submitted a non-binding privatization proposal to Twitter on April 13, planning to The price of $54.20 per share to acquire Twitter in cash will be worth more than $43 billion, or about 274 billion yuan.

Musk said the offer was his highest and final offer. If not accepted, he will reconsider his status as a Twitter shareholder. But the major shareholder, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
Rejected Musk's offer, which he sees as good growth prospects for Twitter, and that Musk's offer is below Twitter's intrinsic value.

Twitter’s official statement on April 15 stated that Twitter’s board of directors has unanimously approved a shareholder equity plan that can be exercised in the event of disagreements between controlling shareholders and the company’s board of directors to ensure that all other shareholders realize value, valid until April 14, 2023. .

The plan is commonly known as the "Poison Pill Plan", officially known as "Equity Dilution Anti-Takeover Measures". Invented in 1982 by the famous American M&A lawyer Martin Lipton, it is a defense measure used by American companies to resist hostile takeovers. That is, allowing existing shareholders of a company to buy large shares of a company at a discount, thereby diluting the acquirer's equity.

The trigger condition set by the plan is that the shares account for 15%, that is, before April 14, 2023, once someone's shares account for more than 15%, the "poison pill plan" will be activated.

In addition, Twitter also emphasized in this statement that the "poison pill plan" will not prevent its board from engaging with parties or accepting acquisition proposals at higher prices. So if there are other companies or individuals willing to buy Twitter at a higher price, Twitter is happy to negotiate with all parties.

Earlier, according to Twitter's announcement on April 4, Musk had purchased 9.2% of Twitter's shares and became the largest shareholder. Afterwards, Twitter’s board of directors announced the appointment of Musk as a director of the company, whose shareholding ratio should not exceed the company’s stipulated 14.9%. But Musk announced on the 9th that he would give up his seat on Twitter’s board of directors, which also sparked speculation among netizens that he wanted to continue to increase his stake or even acquire the company. Now, Musk has also confirmed this speculation: "Twitter needs to transform into a private company."

About Musk

According to Forbes data, as CEO of Tesla, a new energy vehicle company, CEO and CTO of Space X, a space exploration company, and chairman of the board of directors of Suncity, Musk has become the new richest man in the world with a net worth of more than $260 billion.

At the same time, he is also a heavy Twitter user. Since joining the Twitter platform in 2009, Musk currently has more than 82 million followers and has used the platform to post more than 17,000 tweets.

On April 15, Musk also launched a vote on Twitter called "Taking Twitter private at $54.2 per share should be up to shareholders, not the board." More than 2.8 million people have voted, with 83.5% in favor and 16.5% in disapproval.