Elon Musk Insists He’ll Take $0 Salary At Twitter To Combat ‘Poison Pill’

Elon Musk has vowed to take a salary of $0 at Twitter if his AU$58 billion (US$43 billion) takeover bid succeeds.

The Tesla CEO took another swipe at the Twitter board after they adopted the ‘poison pill’ strategy to prevent the tech billionaire from forcefully buying the company. 

The tactic essentially saw Twitter’s board offer current stakeholders discounted shares to push out any potential buyers from amassing more than 15 per cent, because the flux in new shares pushed up the price of acquisition. 

Gary Black, an SEC-registered investment adviser, suggested this is why Musk's offer hasn't been accepted yet.

“Let me point out something obvious: If Elon Musk takes Twitter private, the Twitter board members don’t have jobs anymore, which pays them $250K-$300K per year for what is a nice part-time job. That could explain a lot," he said on Twitter.

Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that’s ~$3M/year saved right there

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 18, 2022

To which Musk replied: “Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that’s ~$3M/year saved right there.”

Since acquiring a 9.2 per cent stake in the company, Musk has been quite outspoken about his critiques of the social media platform and his attempts to improve on current policies. 

He had taken to Twitter to highlight some of the changes he'd like to see at the company and even asked his millions of followers if they agreed with him.

These proposals included making the service cheaper, banning advertising, and even having the option to pay in cryptocurrency. 

A social media platform’s policies are good if the most extreme 10% on left and right are equally unhappy

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2022

However, since making his investment Musk has come to the conclusion that he must instead buy the whole company in order to see real change - putting in a whopping AU$58 billion (US$43 billion) bid. 

Explaining why he wants to buy the company in a letter to Twitter chairman Bret Taylor, the Tesla and SpaceX chief said: "Since making my investment I now realise the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. 

“Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.

"My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder."

After the ‘poison pill’ tactic was adopted by the board, Musk’s bid was essentially denied.

it’s consistently been the dysfunction of the company

— jack⚡️ (@jack) April 17, 2022

He took to Twitter again to ask his 80 million followers if ‘taking Twitter private at US$54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board’, with 83.5 per cent of users voting ‘Yes’. 

Meanwhile, Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey has also been critical of the Twitter board. 

In reply to a tweet that claimed that a bad board will be the detriment to a company, he tweeted: “Big facts.”

He also tweeted: “It’s consistently been the dysfunction of the company.”