Riot Platforms Boosts Bitfarms Stake with Additional Share Acquisition
Riot Platforms has announced the purchase of an additional 1,432,063 shares of Bitfarms. The acquisition, completed on June 10 at approximately $2.7 per share, represents an investment of around $3.87 million.
This latest move brings Riot’s total holdings to approximately 57.62 million shares, accounting for about 14% of Bitfarms.
Riot’s Ongoing Takeover
This announcement is part of Riot’s ongoing takeover attempt of Bitfarms. Last month, Riot made a bid to acquire Bitfarms for roughly $950 million. On May 28, Riot secured a 9.25% stake, marking it the company’s largest shareholder. Riot further expanded its stake by purchasing an additional 1.5 million shares on June 5.
In response to Riot’s aggressive acquisition strategy, Bitfarms has taken defensive measures, most notably adopting a “poison pill” earlier this week. This strategy aims to prevent the takeover by making Bitfarms less attractive to potential acquirers and diluting Riot’s ownership stake.
Under Bitfarms’ strategy, if any entity acquires more than 15% of Bitfarms’ shares between June 20 and September 10, the company will issue new shares to dilute that entity’s ownership stake.
Meanwhile, Bitfarms’ stock witnessed a 15% rise earlier today following an announcement that its 2025 hash rate is expected to exceed 35 EH/s due to the development of its first large-scale mining site in the United States.
Riot Platforms CEO Slams Bitfarms’ Defensive Tactics
Riot Platforms CEO Jason Les has been vocal in his criticism of Bitfarms’ defensive tactics. In a statement on Wednesday, Les said, “Instead of engaging with us privately and in good faith, Bitfarms has responded by implementing an off-market poison pill with a trigger well below the customary 20% threshold.”
Les further accused the Bitfarms Board of entrenchment and neglecting shareholder interests, referencing the recent removal of company co-founder Emiliano Grodzki by shareholders less than two weeks ago.
“This action further demonstrates the Bitfarms Board’s entrenchment and disregard for the perspectives of its shareholders,” Les stated. He also called for the resignation of Chairman and interim CEO Nicolas Bonta, citing poor corporate governance under Bonta’s leadership since 2018.
“We will continue to push to address the serious corporate governance issues at Bitfarms and ensure that shareholders have a say on the Company’s path forward.” In line with this, Riot Platforms also has plans to request for a special meeting of Bitfarms shareholders to nominate several independent directors to the board.
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