African-American philanthropist Elon Musk has stated that the annual salary for Twitter board members will be $0 if his attempt to take over left-wing social media platform Twitter is successful.
“Wow, with Jack departing, the Twitter board collectively owns almost no shares!” Musk tweeted over the weekend. “Objectively, their economic interests are simply not aligned with shareholders.”
Wow, with Jack departing, the Twitter board collectively owns almost no shares! Objectively, their economic interests are simply not aligned with shareholders.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 16, 2022
Investment adviser Gary Black then tweeted, “The $TWTR board’s interests aren’t waligned [sic] with TWTR shareholders. The board serves to represent shareholders. If they refuse to act in the best interest of SHs, they should be removed and replaced by new board members who understand their fiduciary obligations.”
Musk responded via Twitter reply, “Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that’s ~$3M/year saved right there.”
Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that’s ~$3M/year saved right there
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 18, 2022
On Friday Twitter announced that its board of directors has adopted the “poison pill” defense to thwart Tesla CEO Elon Musk from acquiring the company through a hostile takeover in his bid to restore free speech.
The “limited duration shareholder rights plan,” according to Twitter, will allow its investors to “realize the full value of their investment” by reducing the likelihood that a single person can take over the company, without either giving the board of directors more time or paying shareholders a premium.
Should Twitter deny Musk’s offer to buyout the company and take it private, the African American billionaire still has the capability to take over the company, should his allies buy out unfriendly shareholders and eventually empower Musk to vote out the current directors on the board and fire CEO Parag Agrawal.
For its part, Twitter said the limited duration shareholder rights plan won’t prevent the board from engaging with third parties or accepting an acquisition proposal as long as it’s in Twitter’s “best interests.”
Twitter employees are reportedly acting “panicked” at the prospect of losing their political censorship powers.
