SORRY ELON, THE TWITTER SHOW MUSK GO ON
It seems like we feature a story about Elon Musk and Twitter every week on these pages. This week will be no exception.
Last week we told how the Tesla and SpaceX boss had launched a hostile takeover bid for the social network – and said the offer he had made to buy all shares and take the company private was non-negotiable and final.
Musk reckons Twitter stifles free speech and has decided the only way to make the changes to the company he feels are necessary is to take it over completely, rather than take a seat on its board.
He certainly has the money to complete the deal, but Twitter’s board has other ideas.
It has invoked what is known in the stocks and shares business as the ‘poison pill’ defence.
Twitter has said that if anyone buys more than 15% of the shares available in the company, it will issue more shares to current shareholders at a knockdown price. The idea is that the holding of the individual making the aggressive takeover bid will be diluted in its value.
The defence is in place for a year and shows how determined the Twitter board is to stop Musk – he has said if he fails (and he’s not sure he will succeed) he’ll sell the shares he does have and look at other options.
Meanwhile, Twitter has revealed it is working on a feature that Musk has claimed he most craves – an ‘edit’ button for tweets.
The concern has been that people could go back and edit historic tweets, but this week it’s been suggested the feature will retain a history of all tweets and any subsequent edits.
The edit feature isn’t quite ready for testing, and Twitter hasn’t revealed when it will be.
Meanwhile, we all wait with bated breath to see what Musk’s next move in this fascinating game of chess may be.