Twitter has moved to make it difficult for Elon Musk, the world's richest man, to takeover the social media platform.
The company is creating a so-called poison pill, a "limited-duration shareholder rights plan" after Musk made a hostile $43 billion bid for the whole company.
This will allow current shareholders to buy more shares cheaply when anyone else gets more than a 15% stake in the company.
Essentially, this dilutes shareholdings, with more shares on issue, making it more expensive for a suitor to take control.
The move was revealed in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing following Musk's "unsolicited, non-binding proposal to acquire Twitter".
Musk believes he can unlock the “extraordinary potential” of a platform used by more than 200 million people:
“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.”
Analysts say Twitter’s ability to shape real-time discourse has made it a gold mine for researchers to dig into society's changing beliefs.
And the platform can influence financial markets.
Clearly, the board of directors of Twitter think Musk's bid is too low.
Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, told the TED2022 conference in Vancouver: "I am not sure that I will actually be able to acquire it."
He said he had a B plan but didn't elaborate.
Twitter is due to release its March quarter earnings later this month.
In 2021, Twitter's annual revenue grew 37% to $US5.08 billion.
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