Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has come up with a quick way to lop off some costs if he prevails in a bid to acquire Twitter: ceasing to pay the company’s board members, who have tried to block the takeover, allegedly to the detriment of the shareholders they supposedly represent.
Musk, whose fortune is estimated at nearly $270 billion by Forbes, vowed on Monday to fire Twitter’s directors – or at least cut off their compensation – if and when his $43 billion takeover goes through. He made his comment in response to investment advisor Gary Black, who pointed out that Twitter has been paying its board members $250,000-$300,000 in cash and stock awards annually for their part-time work as outside directors.
“Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that’s $3 million/year saved right there,” Musk said in a Twitter post.
Black replied that Musk could shave a further $75 million in annual operating costs if he were to fire 10% of Twitter’s employees – enough savings to underpin $10 billion in financing for the takeover.
Musk plans to take Twitter private after completing the acquisition, which he said will help him unlock the company’s full money-making potential by making it “the platform for free speech around the globe.” Twitter’s board voted unanimously on Friday to adopt a so-called “poison pill” in an effort to block the takeover.