Elon Musk would eliminate salaries for Twitter's board if buyout succeeds
Musk says salaries for the current board cost $3 million
Constellation Research founder and author and R 'Ray' Wang joins host Ashley Webster to discuss Elon Musk's escalating battle to take over Twitter and earnings for Netflix and Tesla.
Billionaire Elon Musk would cut the salaries of Twitter's board of directors to zero if his ongoing attempt to purchase the company succeeds, Musk announced Monday.
Musk offered to purchase Twitter and take it private for $54.20 last week, and Twitter's board is working to fight off the buyout. Board members currently make between $200,000 and $300,000 salaries, equating to an annual cost of roughly $3 million for the company.
"Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that’s ~$3M/year saved right there," Musk tweeted.
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Twitter's board adopted a so-called poison pill last week in its effort to ward off Musk's offer. The move allows all of Twitter's current shareholders – except for Musk – to purchase additional shares at a reduced cost. While that severely decreases the value of the company, it also dilutes Musk's stake in the company.
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Musk criticized Twitter for a lack of commitment to free speech in the lead-up to his purchase offer. He bought a 9.2% stake in the company in early April.
"Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy," Musk tweeted March 26. "What should be done?"
"Is a new platform needed?" he tweeted later.
Many of Musk's nearly 80 million Twitter followers encouraged him at the time to buy Twitter's platform entirely, or create his own.
"Buy this one!" tweeted Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Twitter has repeatedly censored conservative viewpoints in recent years. The company locked the conservative satire site The Babylon Bee out of its Twitter account for jokingly awarding Biden administration official Dr. Rachel Levine a "Man of the Year" award. Levine is a transgender woman.
Twitter also blocked the sharing of links to a New York Post article revealing the contents of a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden. While critics derided the story as Russian disinformation at the time, both the New York Times and Washington Post have since acknowledged that the story was accurate.