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Tesla boss Elon Musk is himself one of the busiest tweeters
Photo: DADO RUVIC / REUTERS
Tesla boss Elon Musk wants to spend 41.4 billion dollars and buy Twitter with it.
Now the short message service is taking action to defend itself against a takeover by the tech billionaire.
The board of directors approved a plan that strengthens the rights of current shareholders, the US company announced.
This plan provides that other shareholders can buy additional shares cheaply if a buyer exceeds the 15 percent mark.
The move is a classic "poison pill" that companies threatened by takeovers often resort to.
Musk had only recently joined Twitter as a major shareholder, and now his intended purchase of the remaining shares is being made more difficult.
According to Twitter, the measure should apply for one year, the board of directors announced.
Musk "not sure" the takeover will succeed
Musk had announced an offer to all Twitter shareholders on Thursday to take over shares at a price of 54.20 dollars, the equivalent of 49.69 euros.
In the past few weeks, he has already bought a stake of 9.2 percent.
However, investors on the stock exchange do not believe that Musk will reach his goal: in New York trading, the share price fell by around 1.7 percent to around $ 45 in the middle of the day.
Musk himself admitted that he was "not sure" that he would succeed in taking over Twitter.
tfb/dpa/AFP
