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 Riots total holdings to approximately 57.62 million shares, accounting for about 14% of Bitfarms.
Riots Ongoing Takeover
This announcement is part of Riots 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 companys largest shareholder. Riot further expanded its stake by purchasing an additional 1.5 million shares on June 5.
In response to Riots 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 Riots 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 entitys 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 Boards 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 Bontas 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 Companys 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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