Take over a business in Malta Living, or defend yours

Now you can take over a business in Malta Living, the free life sim you play in your browser. It's the third step of Big shares: the Sliema boutique hotel and the Spinola Bay restaurant, cut into 1,000 shares each, where the biggest holder with 250 or more runs the place. If someone else runs it and you want it, you can now make a bid.

Making a bid

Open the business and tap ⚔️ Take it over. Pick what you'll offer every holder for a share: 110%, 120%, 130% or 150% of the house's price. Your bid covers the shares that would take you to 400, the most anyone can hold, and the whole amount is set aside from your earned euros at once. Nobody can bluff, and whatever isn't used comes back to you when it ends. Then tap Launch the bid · 24 h.

For the next 24 hours, any holder can sell to you at that price, or keep theirs. They're paid at once, less a 1% fee, the same as selling on the player market. When the clock runs out, whoever holds more runs it. A tie stays with the owner, and you keep every share you bought either way.

Defending yours

If someone bids for what you run, you hear about it at once with a TAKEOVER BID! pop-up on top of the game, a push on your phone and a line in Messages. Tap Defend and you have four ways to fight back:

• Buy more, up to 400: from the house or from players. Hold 400 and nobody can pass you.
• Match the offer: holders can sell to you at the same price instead. Your money is set aside the same way.
• Ask holders to stay: one note to every holder.
• Thank-you week: holders who keep theirs get +10% on next week's good days, paid out of your own part, never your wallet.

While the bid is on, who runs the business doesn't change. The race is decided at the end, and you'll see YOU RUN IT or YOU HELD ON.

Fair play

There's one bid at a time on a business, none in its first week, and none for 7 days after one ends. You can't bid if you already run two big businesses, or against an owner who holds 400. Selling into a bid between accounts that share a phone, a network or an email waits for a quick check by the team.

New to investing? The Invest app guide shows where everything is, businesses, property and cabs covers the rest, and the Malta life simulator guide covers the whole island. Real takeover bids work on the same idea of offering shareholders a premium (Wikipedia: takeover).

Questions people ask

What happens to my money if I lose?

You keep every share you bought, and the money set aside for shares nobody sold you comes back when the bid ends.

Can I pay a bid with bought euros?

No. A bid is money for other players, so it comes from euros you earned in the game. Your bought euros still buy shares from the house.

How do I stop a takeover?

Hold more than the bidder when the clock runs out. Buying up to 400 is the sure way, because nobody can hold more and a tie stays with you.

Who gets the thank-you week?

Holders who kept their shares through the bid, on the good days of the next Malta week, paid out of the owner's own part.