As the Twitter acquisition saga of Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk rolls on, the richest man in the world dropped a cryptic tweet saying, “Moving On” which has again set the rumor mills abuzz. Social media users are casting aspersions whether Musk will manage to acquire Twitter fully or the Twitter board’s ‘poison pill‘ strategy has forced him to move on from this venture.
Moving on …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 24, 2022
While people were busy speculating whether Elon Musk has decided to abort his attempt to take over Twitter, he sent out a clarification a short while later stating that he has decided to move on from mocking Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Elon Musk has been trolling Bill Gates recently over his decision to short Tesla shares, where Musk is the CEO and the largest shareholder.
(from making fun of Gates for shorting Tesla while claiming to support climate change action)
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 24, 2022
On April 18, billionaire Elon Musk said on Twitter that if he manages to acquire the company, he will slash the company’s board salary to USD 0. Replying to Gary Black of The Future Fund LLC, Musk wrote on Twitter, “Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that’s ~$3M/year saved right there.” This came after he reiterated his offer to take over Twitter and take it private. He said the company has a lot of potential, and he could help Twitter in using it better if he can take the company private.
It all started when Elon Musk earlier revealed that he had acquired a 9.2% stake in Twitter, with speculations that he may take over the company in near future. After buying the largest stake in the company, Elon Musk was invited to a seat on the board of directors of Twitter Inc., which he had initially accepted but later decided not to join the board. However, Musk made an offer to buy the whole of Twitter in his attempt to make it a private company. He assured that his proposition will reward the shareholders with a handsome price.
In an SEC filing regarding the offer, he wrote, “I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for USD 54.20 per share in case, a 54% premium over the day I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced.”
However, the Twitter Board decided not to accept the offer and opted for the Poison Pill. Under the strategic move, the rights become exercisable if anyone acquires ownership of 15% or more of Twitter’s stock in a transaction not authorised by the board. The micro-blogging tech company implemented a limited-duration shareholder rights plan to protect itself from billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s $43 billion cash takeover offer.
Also, hours after Tesla CEO Elon Musk offered to buy 100% shares of Twitter, Saudi Arabian Prince, and billionaire businessman al-Waleed bin Talal refused to sell his stake in Twitter, citing the future growth prospects of Twitter and low share value for turning down the offer of Elon Musk. Now after the fiasco over Elon Musk’s hostile takeover proposition, another cryptic tweet from the world’s richest man has set the ball of speculations rolling.
There are nascent assumptions about Musk pulling back his offer to buy Twitter, which is unlikely to happen. However, as highlighted by him in his SEC bid, there are chances, he might even reconsider his share in the company if his offer is not accepted. “If the deal doesn’t work, given that I don’t have confidence in management nor do I believe I can drive the necessary change in the public market. I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder,” the Tesla CEO had said categorically.
The ball has always been in Elon Musk’s court over his Twitter propositions. However, it is to be seen whether the Twitter board and management manage to stop him from completing his hostile takeover of the micro-blogging platform.
