Bitfarms has passed a “poison pill” tactic after its shareholder meeting to stop a hostile takeover attempt by Riot Platforms.
This plan allows existing Bitfarms shareholders to buy new shares at a discounted price if any single investor gets 15% or more of the company’s stock before September 10th. This would make it way more expensive for Riot to take over Bitfarms.
This corporate battle started in April when Riot offered to buy Bitfarms for $950 million. But Bitfarms quickly rejected the offer, saying it undervalued the company’s future growth potential. Riot currently owns 12% of Bitfarms.
However, tensions increased this week as Bitfarms enacted the poison pill plan after its yearly shareholder meeting. The move aims to dilute Riot’s current ownership stake and make a takeover too costly. However, it hasn’t stopped the determined buyer.
Disappointingly, Riot declined to participate in the process and instead has continued to acquire common shares of the Company in the open market, thereby acquiring an additional 8.01% of the Company’s common shares since April 22, 2024, in an attempt to undermine the integrity of the process and thwart the interest of third parties”.
Moreover, Riot has claimed Bitfarms simply delayed discussions about merging the two companies. The firms are now preparing for ways to convince remaining investors to side with them.
As of the time of writing, Bitfarms’ stock has dropped 3.64% to $3.18, while Riot’s stock has climbed 1.8% to $9.90
