Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is threatening to battle with the Twitter board of directors for trying to reject Elon Musk’s offer to purchase the social media giant.
In a statement at a press conference on Tuesday, DeSantis said the firm handled its fiduciary duty clumsily by attempting to scuttle a sale of the company’s stock at a premium.
That effort could potentially hurt the Sunshine State’s pension funds because they hold Twitter stock, DeSantis asserted.
“They rejected it because they know they can’t control Elon Musk,” DeSantis said. “It was not, in my judgment, a good business deal.”
While he didn’t go into specifics, the governor vowed to direct state officials to explore ways to examine the board’s decision-making.
“We’re going to be looking at ways that the state of Florida potentially can be holding the Twitter board of directors accountable for breach of their fiduciary duty,” the governor said.
Twitter’s board took action to weaken Musk’s leverage after getting upset about his splashy offer.
The “poison pill” would impede Musk’s ability to nab a substantial stake in the organization by making discounted shares available for purchase if he ever exceeds 15% ownership – a move that would sharply reduce his position.
“What Musk is trying to do is in a sense liberate it from being an agent of censorship into making it an actual open platform,” DeSantis said.
However, 68% of Twitter employees said they opposed Musk’s stated suggestions for the company and objected to his purchase bid.
