Concept · Governance & Ownership
Poison Pill
Origin: M&A defense
Biological Parallel
The rough-skinned newt's constitutional tetrodotoxin, the bombardier beetle's boiling chemical spray, the sea cucumber's self-evisceration, and the monarch butterfly's sequestered cardenolides all encode the same principle: make the cost of acquisition exceed the value of the target. But biological toxin defense, like its corporate equivalent, cannot distinguish predators from opportunities.