Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is reportedly not deterred by Twitter’s “Poison Pill,” which was employed to dilute his stock holdings and prevent a hostile takeover of the company, allegedly activating “Plan B” which involves bringing in wealthy partners to finish the job.

(Video Credit: Fox News)

Following a $43 billion offer to buy Twitter, the company rejected the lucrative deal in favor of retaining control of the social media platform. Musk holds 9.2 percent of Twitter’s stock but that may have changed over the last few days and no one is sure what his holdings are in the company at the moment. He is seeking to take the company private.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal had originally told staff members that the company was considering the offer. Then they rejected it by triggering a shareholder rights provision to dilute company shares if a shareholder obtains a 15 percent stake without prior approval from the board. This would allegedly indicate that Musk did exactly that.

Musk is a seasoned hand at hostile takeovers and the move will not stop him. In fact, instead of the lucrative offer that was made to shareholders, in the end, Twitter may see pennies on the dollar for rejecting it. He is now speaking with wealthy investors in a plan to partner with them during the takeover according to the New York Post. Musk said the rejection would be doing shareholders a “titanic” disservice which may be an understatement.

(Video Credit: The Daily Mail}

Musk asserts that he could “technically afford” the $43 billion offer. He is reportedly the richest man in the world with a fortune of $264 billion, but much of that is tied up in Tesla and SpaceX.

Rumor has it that Musk is considering partnering with private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners in going after Twitter. The firm has dealt with Musk before when he considered taking Tesla private. Egon Durban, who is the co-CEO of Silver Lake, is a Twitter board member. He is described by The Financial Times as “the first phone call for Silicon Valley companies in need of cash.”

Musk has stated that he is undertaking the bid “not to make money,” but for free speech. The battle to acquire Twitter is far from over according to sources cited by the New York Post.

Taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022

“This is not about the economics,” Musk declared at a TED conference on Thursday. “My strong intuitive sense is having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is important to the future of civilization. Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so it’s really important that people have both the reality and perception that they are able to speak freely, in the bounds of the law.”

Twitter justified the use of the “Poison Pill” plan as being “similar to other plans adopted by publicly held companies in comparable circumstances.”

“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,” Twitter asserted.

As a @Twitter shareholder, I demand that the Board pursue shareholder interests and not their own with regard to the @elonmusk offer. Each board member has a fiduciary duty to do so.

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) April 15, 2022

Another alternative for Musk is a proxy fight that would vote out the current board directors, but that could take a long time and he is ostensibly not a patient man concerning this kind of deal.

“If the current Twitter board takes actions contrary to shareholder interests, they would be breaching their fiduciary duty,” Musk tweeted. “The liability they would thereby assume would be titanic in scale,” the South African visionary added, seemingly referring to potential shareholder lawsuits.

If the current Twitter board takes actions contrary to shareholder interests, they would be breaching their fiduciary duty.

The liability they would thereby assume would be titanic in scale.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022

.@Twitter board willing to destroy company to stop @ElonMusk?

— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) April 15, 2022

Today, @ElonMusk isn't trending anymore. Twitter is showing their true colors, trying everything possible to keep an African American down.

— Errol Webber (@ErrolWebber) April 15, 2022

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