Provisions written into a company’s charter as strategies for ensuring that the company does not get acquired by another. Some work by requiring the acquirer to make some type of enormous purchase as soon as he or she takes control of the company. Others give the current shareholders stock options that would erode the acquirer’s power. Some anti-takeover defenses are savvy individuals hired to thwart takeovers through creative but legal means. Shark repellents, poison pills, killer bees, and white knights are some of the creative names for various anti-takeover defenses.