Technology

Twitter takeover battle: Elon Musk threatens to fire all managers

In early April, Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk bought more than nine percent of Twitter and he has been the largest shareholder ever since. But Musk wanted more and announced a 100 percent purchase, which would also be a hostile takeover. And the battle is already in full swing. Musk wants to take over Twitter completely. This news recently shocked not only the users of the SMS service but also the financial world.

And anything will be anything but “peaceful” as Twitter fights back against the $40 billion deal. However, the management of Twitter wants to fight back and has acted against this, among other things, with a so-called “poison pill”. This “poison pill” was decided at a special meeting of the Twitter board of directors. It is a stock regulating tool used when someone wants to buy at least 15 percent of Twitter’s common stock without board approval. Shareholders then have the opportunity to buy shares at a discount.

Musk threatens to sack all executives

Musk is meanwhile also combative and of course, shoots poison darts – via Twitter of course. Because the Tesla and SpaceX boss shared that the board will earn zero dollars if his acquisition is successful. According to Musk, that saves about three million dollars a year. Whether it’s as easy to fire management as Musk describes it on Twitter is of course another question, because you can’t just fire managers in the US – without severance pay and lawsuits from those involved. In any case, the Twitter takeover has what it takes to become an economic crime:

Musk himself admitted last week that he was “not sure” whether he could actually take over the social media service. But the 50-year-old didn’t mean he didn’t have the money for it. He did not express his own doubts, but it is conceivable that Musk expects (too) much headwind.