Corporations battered by the global pandemic are shoring up their defenses against hostile takeovers by private equity firms that they fear may seek to take advantage of their weakened state, according to MarketWatch. In March alone, a total of 57 public companies adopted "poison pill" measures, the highest number in the shortest time in over two decades. In contrast, by the end of last year, only 25 S&P 500 companies had such defenses.

A "poison pill" refers to a wide variety of precautions a company can take to make the possibility of a hostile takeover unattractive from an investment standpoint, such as offering existing shareholders the ability to buy more shares at a deep discount, which makes acquiring a controlling interest much more difficult.

For their own part, the private equity firms that corporations feel the need to protect themselves from don't seem very interested in performing hostile takeovers, said MarketWatch, both for reputational reasons and due to the fact that many have bylaws specifically banning hostile moves.

The revival of such measures comes as many companies face collapsing share prices amid the global pandemic. While it does not seem they are preparing for any specific hostile takeover, the moves seem to be the financial version of a wounded animal baring its fangs, communicating something along the lines of, "Yes, I am bleeding, and yes, I am vulnerable, but don't try anything because I'm still strong enough to make you regret it even if you do win in the end."