Twitter Board Announces 'Poison Pill' To Block Musk's Hostile Takeover Bid

Twitter's board of directors has responded to Elon Musk's attempt to buy the social media company and take it private. The board announced a "poison pill" plan to block Musk's $43 billion offer.

Under the plan, officially known as a limited duration shareholder rights plan, Twitter shareholders will be allowed to purchase additional stock at a discounted rate if any person or group acquires a 15% ownership of the company's outstanding common stock without the board's approval.

The rights plan will run until April 14, 2023.

"The Rights Plan is intended to enable all shareholders to realize the full value of their investment in Twitter. 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 or without providing the Board sufficient time to make informed judgments and take actions that are in the best interests of shareholders," Twitter explained in a statement.

Musk claims his attempt to purchase Twitter isn't about making more money.

"Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square. So it's just really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they're able to speak freely within the bounds of the law," Musk said during a TED 2022 conference in Vancouver.

"This is not a way to sort of make money. My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important," he added. "So the future of civilization, but you don't care about the economics at all."