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Tag: Elon Musk

  • Twitter Plans to Accept Elon Musk’s Proposal to Finish Original Deal

    Twitter Plans to Accept Elon Musk’s Proposal to Finish Original Deal

    Twitter has signaled it intends to accept Elon Musk’s proposal to finalize a deal based on the original terms.

    Elon Musk and Twitter have been locked in a legal battle after the tech icon tried to back out of his deal to purchase Twitter. Earlier today, and just two weeks before their court case begins, reports surfaced that Musk proposed moving forward with the deal under the original terms.

    According to its Twitter account, the social media company plans to accept the proposal.

    https://twitter.com/TwitterIR/status/1577380758192197632?s=20&t=SGO-e8XyLHLQwmB5MOt3Xw

    Given that the company’s board of directors and shareholders have already approved the deal, Musk could be Twitter’s new owner in the very near future.

  • Elon Musk Reportedly Wants to Proceed With Original Twitter Deal

    Elon Musk Reportedly Wants to Proceed With Original Twitter Deal

    In what may be the most pointless legal exercise ever, Elon Musk now wants to proceed with his original deal to buy Twitter.

    Elon Musk launched a high-profile attempt to buy Twitter, only to then turn around and try to back out of the deal. Telsa’s CEO claimed that Twitter was hiding the true scope of its bot issues. Twitter sued in an effort to force Musk to go through with the deal, leading to months of legal wrangling.

    According to Bloomberg, Musk has sent a letter to Twitter offering to move forward with the original deal, which would see the tech mogul buy the company for $54.20 per share.

  • Tesla in Trouble Over Misguided Return-to-Office Policies

    Tesla in Trouble Over Misguided Return-to-Office Policies

    Tesla is in turmoil over return-to-office (RTO) policies that don’t reflect the realities the company and its employees are facing.

    CEO Elon Musk made it very clear in June that he wanted the company’s office-based employees in the office, or he would take their absence as a sign of resignation.

    “Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean ‘minimum’) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla,” Musk wrote in an email with the subject line “Remote work is no longer acceptable.”

    The only problem is, Tesla is not properly equipped to handle a full RTO transition. According to CNBC, the company was generally open to remote work prior to the pandemic. As a result, when the company went through various phases of expansion, it didn’t always build out with the goal of having 100% of its employees in-office all the time. Now Telsa finds itself without the workstations or office equipment it needs to meet Musk’s demands.

    To make matters worse, Tesla is increasing its surveillance of employees, including sending weekly reports to Musk detailing employee absenteeism.

    According to CNBC, Musk’s policies are leading to a decline in morale. The decline is especially sharp among teams that could work remotely before the pandemic but are now expected to be in the office.

    Only time will tell if Tesla walks back its RTO policies. In the meantime, it should at least consider buying its employees desks so being in the office isn’t quite as miserable an experience.

  • Twitter Shareholders Vote In Favor of Musk Buyout

    Twitter Shareholders Vote In Favor of Musk Buyout

    Adding another element of intrigue to the Elon Musk/Twitter drama, the company’s shareholders have voted in favor of the deal.

    Musk and Twitter have been locked in a legal battle ever since the tech mogul decided to back out of his bid to purchase the company. The board voted in favor of the deal and encouraged shareholders to approve it. The shareholders have followed the board’s lead, voting in favor of the deal, according to TheStreet.

    In the meantime, Musk is trying to terminate the deal, saying the company has been misleading investors regarding the scope of its spam account and bot problem. Those claims have received a major boost from whistleblower Peiter Zatko, the company’s former head of security and a well-respected figure in the cybersecurity community. Zatko has also accused the company of not being honest about its bot problem, as well as not being serious about cybersecurity.

    It remains to be seen what will happen, but Twitter’s shareholders voting in favor clears the way for the company to continue its legal efforts to force Musk to go through with the deal.

  • Tesla May Build a Lithium Refinery in Texas

    Tesla May Build a Lithium Refinery in Texas

    Tesla is investigating the possibility of building a lithium refinery in Texas as the electric vehicle (EV) maker tries to keep up with production.

    Tesla is the world’s leading EV manufacturer but, like most automakers, faces challenges securing the necessary supplies to keep up with demand. According to Reuters, the company is considering a lithium refinery in Texas.

    Lithium is a critical component in the batteries Tesla relies on, but with more and more automakers turning to EV production, lithium supplies are more important than ever. CEO Elon Musk has already indicated the company may have to enter the mining industry in an effort to keep up.

    The Texas refinery, which the company described in an application as converting “raw ore material into a usable state for battery production,” would be a major step toward Tesla achieving battery independence.

    Tesla is hoping to get property tax breaks from Texas and will make a decision based on the outcome.

  • California Proves Musk’s Point, Asks Residents Not to Charge EVs

    California Proves Musk’s Point, Asks Residents Not to Charge EVs

    California is asking people not to charge their electric vehicles (EVs) as a result of heat-induced power shortages.

    California was just in the news for announcing a ban on gasoline-powered vehicles that goes into effect in 2035, making it the first state to take such a drastic step. Despite the plan to aggressively transition to EVs, the state is now in the embarrassing position of asking residents not to charge those EVs.

    “During a Flex Alert, consumers are urged to reduce energy use from 4-9 p.m. when the system is most stressed because demand for electricity remains high and there is less solar energy available,” wrote the American Public Power Association. “The top three conservation actions are to set thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, avoid using large appliances and charging electric vehicles, and turn off unnecessary lights.”

    The issue highlights the challenges companies and countries are facing as they try to transition to non-gasoline vehicles. The challenges have even prompted Tesla CEO Elon Musk, long a vocal critic of the fossil fuel industry, to endorse additional oil and natural gas mining — at least in the short term.

    “Realistically I think we need to use oil and gas in the short term, because otherwise civilisation will crumble,” Elon Musk said, according to Reuters.

    When asked Norway should continue drilling for fossil fuels, Musk said: “I think some additional exploration is warranted at this time.”

    “One of the biggest challenges the world has ever faced is the transition to sustainable energy and to a sustainable economy,” he added. “That will take some decades to complete.”

    California may be the starkest proof yet of Musk’s point.

  • Jack Dorsey’s Biggest Regret Is Twitter Becoming a Company

    Jack Dorsey’s Biggest Regret Is Twitter Becoming a Company

    Jack Dorsey is weighing in on the Twitter drama, saying his biggest regret is that it became a company at all.

    Twitter is one of the most popular social media platforms, but also one that is often at the center of the most controversy. The platform has struggled with issues of moderation, free speech, security, and now a legal fight over whether Elon Musk will or will not purchase the company.

    Dorsey believes the company would have been a lot better off if it had never become a company at all, according to one of his tweets in response to a user asking if he was happy with the direction Twitter had taken over the years.

    “The biggest issue and my biggest regret is that it became a company,” Dorsey wrote.

    Dorsey then went on to say how he wished Twitter was structured:

    “A protocol. Def can’t be owned by a state, or company. Becomes clearer every day.”

    Protocols are used every day by billions of people, whether they be protocols defining email, web, messaging, encryption, or more. Rather than restricting consumers to a single app, or a single company, a protocol simply outlines how two apps should communicate. As long as they follow the protocol, anyone can create an app that works with it and communicates with every other app using the same protocol.

    While it’s far too late to wind back the clock, it’s an interesting thought exercise to imagine how different Twitter would be today if Dorsey’s wish came true.

  • T-Mobile Partners With SpaceX to Provide Coast-to-Coast Coverage

    T-Mobile Partners With SpaceX to Provide Coast-to-Coast Coverage

    T-Mobile and SpaceX are working together to take coverage to the next level, leveraging SpaceX’s Starlink service and T-Mobile’s 5G.

    T-Mobile is already the second-largest wireless carrier in the US and is widely considered to be the leader in 5G. Despite significant advances in coverage over the past several years, there are still parts of the US that have no wireless coverage from any provider.

    The magenta carrier wants to fix that problem and is working with SpaceX to do so. The two companies will leverage the power of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, in combination with T-Mobile’s wealth of mid-band spectrum, to provide true coast-to-coast coverage. Best of all, T-Mobile wants to ensure the new network works with existing phones, meaning most phones will be compatible with the service.

    “We’ve always thought differently about what it means to keep customers connected, and that’s why we’re working with the best to deliver coverage above and beyond anything customers have ever seen before,” said Mike Sievert, CEO and president of T-Mobile. “More than just a groundbreaking alliance, this represents two industry-shaking innovators challenging the old ways of doing things to create something entirely new that will further connect customers and scare competitors.”

    “The important thing about this is that it means there are no dead zones anywhere in the world for your cell phone,” said SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk. “We’re incredibly excited to do this with T-Mobile.”

    The two companies’ new network will provide customers with connectivity virtually anywhere they can see the sky. Initial plans include coverage for “the continental US, Hawaii, parts of Alaska, Puerto Rico and territorial waters,” and the companies have invited carriers around the world to participate, opening the door to truly global coverage.

  • Twitter Whistleblower Lends Weight to Elon Musk’s Claims

    Twitter Whistleblower Lends Weight to Elon Musk’s Claims

    Peiter Zatko, who served as Twitter’s head of cybersecurity, has filed a complaint with federal agencies and bolstered Elon Musk’s claims.

    Zatko is the famous and well-respected hacker who goes by the handle “Mudge.” He served as Twitter’s cybersecurity head from late 2020, when he was hired by then-CEO Jack Dorsey until he was fired by the current CEO at the beginning of 2022. According to The Washington Post, he claims the company and CEO Parag Agrawal is intentionally misleading investors and regulators about the state of its security and its issues with spam bots.

    “Agrawal’s Tweets and Twitter’s previous blog posts misleadingly imply that Twitter employs proactive, sophisticated systems to measure and block spam bots,” the complaint says. “The reality: mostly outdated, unmonitored, simple scripts plus overworked, inefficient, understaffed, and reactive human teams.”

    That statement, as well as the complaint in general, will certainly bolster Elon Musk’s case against Twitter. The tech mogul is trying to back out of his deal to purchase the social media company based on his belief the company is not being truthful about the scope of its spam bot issues. He also claims the company has misled investors.

    Read more: Elon Musk Accuses Twitter of Running a ‘Scheme’

    Zatko also claims to have found multiple instances where Twitter was in violation of a 2011 settlement with the FTC, failing to implement security measures and properly protect users, as it had been ordered to do. While Twitter claims to have complied with its obligations, the sheer number of security breaches the company has faced — not to mention the ease with which the breaches occurred — lends weight to Zatko’s claims.

    “If all of that is true, I don’t think there’s any doubt that there are order violations,” David C. Vladeck told the Post in an interview. Vladeck is now a Georgetown Law professor but previously served as director of the FTC’s bureau of consumer protection when the settlement was reached in 2011. “It is possible that the kinds of problems that Twitter faced eleven years ago are still running through the company.”

    The complaint alleges Twitter has exceptionally poor security policies in place, policies that leave the company, its intellectual property, and its customers vulnerable to bad actors. Roughly 30% of the company’s laptops allegedly would not automatically update software to receive the latest security fixes. Even worse, Zatko says thousands of laptops had full copies of Twitter’s source code on them, a scenario that is a dream come true for hackers. Why waste time trying to penetrate a carefully secured and protected programming repository when stealing one of the thousands of available laptops will yield the same result?

    See also: Elon Musk’s Twitter Cancellation Letter

    “It’s near-incredible that for something of that scale there would not be a development test environment separate from production and there would not be a more controlled source-code management process,” Tony Sager, former chief operating officer at the cyberdefense wing of the National Security Agency, told the Post. “Almost any attack scenario is fair game and probably easily executed.”

    The Post interviewed more than a dozen current and former employees for context. While some did say the company deployed extensive measures to fight spam, many agreed with much of Zatko’s complaint regarding the general state of security and dysfunction within the company.

    For his part, Zatko sees blowing the whistle on Twitter as the final step in completing the job he was hired to do.

    “This would never be my first step, but I believe I am still fulfilling my obligation to Jack and to users of the platform,” Zatko said. “I want to finish the job Jack brought me in for, which is to improve the place.”

  • Tesla Raises Price of Full-Self-Driving Software to $15,000

    Tesla Raises Price of Full-Self-Driving Software to $15,000

    Tesla’s Full-Self-Driving (FSD) software has yet to fully live up to its name, but the company is still raising the price 25% to $15,000.

    Tesla is just one of many automakers racing to develop autonomous driving capabilities, but few others have a CEO that is so open about the company’s goals and timeframes. As TheStreet points out, Musk has famously said his company would roll out fully autonomous driving capabilities by the end of the year.

    In keeping with that goal, the company is deploying the latest FSD beta.

    Musk also says the price will increase 25%, from $12,000 to $15,000 for North American buyers.

  • Elon Musk Teases Twitter Rival X.com

    Elon Musk Teases Twitter Rival X.com

    Elon Musk has once again teased the idea of creating a Twitter rival using his X.com domain, should the deal fall through.

    Musk is one of Twitter’s most high-profile users, but the two are locked in a heated legal battle over Musk’s attempt to back out of his offer to purchase the company. The Tesla Owners Silicon Valley asked if the tech CEO would consider starting his own social media alternative to Twitter if the deal falls through, and Musk indicated he would.

    This isn’t the first time Musk has been critical of Twitter and its policies. His criticism of the platform led him to post a poll in March asking if it was time to replace the platform.

    Should the deal fall through, it appears Twitter may have have more troubles on its hands.

  • Elon Musk Hedges His Bets, Sells Tesla Stock

    Elon Musk Hedges His Bets, Sells Tesla Stock

    Elon Musk has sold some 7.92 million shares of Tesla stock, hedging his bets in his legal battle with Twitter.

    Musk originally tried to buy Twitter, lining up investors to help him do so. After weeks of back-and-forth, in which Musk accused Twitter of not disclosing the true scope of bots on the platform, the CEO called off his purchase. Twitter sued Musk to keep the deal alive, leading him to sell off some of his Tesla stock.

    According to CNBC, Musk has sold 7.92 million shares of Tesla stock for approximately $6.88 billion. Musk confirmed the news in a tweet when asked if he planned to sell any additional shares.

    Musk said he had sold the stock as a safety measure in the event some of his equity partners don’t come through.

  • Musk Still Open to Twitter Deal if Company Reveals Bot Numbers

    Musk Still Open to Twitter Deal if Company Reveals Bot Numbers

    Elon Musk says he’s willing proceed with his purchase of the social media company if it provides more information about how it counts users.

    Tesla’s CEO called off his bid to purchase Twitter, claiming the company was not forthcoming about the number of bots on the platform. Musk even went so far as to accuse Twitter of scheming to fool investors and shareholders. Musk and Twitter are now engaged in lawsuits, both claiming bad faith on the part of the other.

    Despite the acrimony that has built up, Musk has indicated he’s not opposed to continuing with the deal, provided Twitter gives more information about how it samples its accounts and determines bot numbers.

    The number of bots on Twitter’s platform, as well as the number of monetizeable users, is a major point of contention, with Musk accusing Twitter of minimizing the first number and exaggerating the latter.

  • Elon Musk Accuses Twitter of Running a ‘Scheme’

    Elon Musk Accuses Twitter of Running a ‘Scheme’

    Elon Musk is firing back in his legal battle with Twitter, accusing the social media company of scheming to mislead investors.

    Musk made an offer to purchase Twitter, which the company’s board accepted. After weeks of claiming Twitter was not forthcoming with the information he wanted regarding its monetizeable user base, Musk ended his bid to buy the company. Twitter sued to keep the deal alive, and Musk filed a countersuit.

    Musk has also leveled serious accusations against Twitter, according to Business Insider, claiming the company is “miscounting” spam accounts on the platform “as part of its scheme to mislead investors about the company’s prospects.”

    Tesla’s CEO also claims that Twitter has less daily users than it claims, 65 million less to be exact. In addition, he says only 16 million see ads and can be considered monetizeable.

    At this point, there have been so many claims made on both sides, not to mention a tremendous amount of acrimony, that it’s hard to tell where the truth lies. With the initial trial set for October, hopefully, we’ll find out soon enough what’s really going on.

  • Twitter Wins Round One Against Elon Musk

    Twitter Wins Round One Against Elon Musk

    The Delaware Chancery Court has ruled in favor of Twitter’s request for an expedited trial despite Elon Musk wanting the trial pushed to February 2023.

    Twitter sued Musk when he backed out of his agreement to purchase the company for $44 billion. Twitter’s stock has been taking a beating, thanks in no small part to the uncertainty surround the company’s future. Twitter’s lawyers wanted the trial to begin as early as September, while Musk wanted it pushed back to February 2023.

    According to TheStreet, the Court has ruled against Musk, and issued a ruling very close to what Twitter was asking for. Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick has ruled the trial will be conducted in October, over the course of five days.

    Chancellor McCormick agreed with Twitter’s arguments that prolonging the trial date would cause unnecessary harm to the company.

  • Twitter and Elon Musk Fighting Over Trial Start Date

    Twitter and Elon Musk Fighting Over Trial Start Date

    Twitter and Musk are continuing their acrimonious relationship, this time squabbling about how quickly their trial will begin.

    Twitter sued Elon Musk in an effort to force him to carry through with his offer to buy the company. Twitter is pushing for a fast and expedient trial, asking for a September trial date, but Musk is pushing back, saying more time is required to prepare. In his response, Musk’s lawyers asked for the trial to be pushed to February 2023.

    Twitter has now responded to Musk’s request, saying further delays would cause continued harm to the company, according to Business Insider.

    “The earliest possible trial date is imperative,” the company’s lawyers said in a document filed in Delaware Chancery Court. “This very public dispute harms Twitter with each passing day Musk is in breach. Musk amplifies this harm by using the Company’s own platform as a megaphone to disparage it.”

    “Millions of Twitter shares trade daily under a cloud of Musk-created doubt. No public company of this size and scale has ever had to bear these uncertainties,” they added.

    The court will address Twitter’s request on Tuesday, July 19.

  • Twitter Sues Elon Musk, Calls His Tactics ‘A Model of Hypocrisy’

    Twitter Sues Elon Musk, Calls His Tactics ‘A Model of Hypocrisy’

    As expected, Twitter has sued Elon Musk for backing out of his purchase agreement, and the company minced no words in its complaint.

    Elon Musk launched a highly publicized takeover attempt of Twitter, only to back out several months later. Musk has accused Twitter of not being forthcoming about how many spam accounts are on its platform and says the company has not fulfilled its commitment to provide him the information he needs to evaluate the company’s health.

    Twitter has sued in an effort to keep the deal alive and has fired back at some of the allegations Musk has made, including whether the company was obligated to provide him any information.

    On April 25, 2022, Musk, acting through and with his solely-owned entities, Parent and Acquisition Sub, agreed to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, for a total of about $44 billion.

    That price, presented by Musk on a take-it-or-leave-it basis in an unsolicited public offer, represented a 38% premium over Twitter’s unaffected share price. The other terms Musk offered and agreed to were, as he touted, “seller friendly.” There is no financing contingency and no diligence condition (bold ours). The deal is backed by airtight debt and equity commitments. Musk has personally committed $33.5 billion.

    The company then goes on to highlight how Musk’s value dropped by $100 billion as a result of the economic downturn and posited that this is the real reason Tesla’s CEO now wants out of the deal.

    Rather than bear the cost of the market downturn, as the merger agreement requires, Musk wants to shift it to Twitter’s stockholders. This is in keeping with the tactics Musk has deployed against Twitter and its stockholders since earlier this year, when he started amassing an undisclosed stake in the company and continued to grow his position without required notification. It tracks the disdain he has shown for the company that one would have expected Musk, as its would-be steward, to protect. Since signing the merger agreement, Musk has repeatedly disparaged Twitter and the deal, creating business risk for Twitter and downward pressure on its share price. 7. Musk’s exit strategy is a model of hypocrisy.

    It’s a safe bet that no one truly believed a deal between Musk and Twitter would be without a measure of drama. With recent events, however, things have become decidedly acrimonious.

    Given the situation, it’s hard to guess what would be in Twitter’s best interest: Continuing forward without Musk, or trying to force the deal under such acrimonious terms.

  • Elon Musk Mocks Twitter Legal Threat

    Elon Musk Mocks Twitter Legal Threat

    Elon Musk used Twitter to directly mock Twitter’s threat to sue him to enforce the $44 billion purchase agreement that Musk and Twitter had previously agreed to. Musk canceled his purchase of Twitter claiming that their claim of less than 5% bots is wildly inaccurate.

    In Musk’s latest tweets he said:

    They said I couldn’t buy Twitter.

    Then they wouldn’t disclose bot info.

    Now they want to force me to buy Twitter in court.

    Now they have to disclose bot info in court. (laughing hysterically)

    Then Musk tweeted a picture of Chuck Norris in front of a chessboard with the caption… Chuckmate.

  • Elon Musk’s Twitter Cancellation Letter

    Elon Musk’s Twitter Cancellation Letter

    Sometimes legal letters can be an interesting read! Elon Musk’s cancellation letter to Twitter by his legal team may be a crushing blow to Twitter’s business, not just this deal.

    Musk’s ending of his acquisition of Twitter is centered on the company’s mDAU as reported in their SEC filings… and that is key. If Musk can prove that Twitter misrepresented investors in their official filings with the SEC then not only is Musk off the hook for any end-of-deal damages but Twitter could be subject to a not-so-friendly SEC investigation.

    For its part, Twitter continues to stand by its claim that less than 5% of monetizable daily active users are spam or bots and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the deal.

    “The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery,” tweeted Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor.

    Elon Musk says in his filing that it appears that Twitter is dramatically understating the proportion of spam and false accounts represented in its mDAUcount:

    “Preliminary analysis by Mr. Musk’s advisors of the information provided by Twitter to date causes Mr. Musk to strongly believe that the proportion of false and spam accounts included in the reported mDAU count is wildly higher than 5%,”

    The letter purports that Musk’s acquisition team was not provided the key data that they requested and not in a usable format for them to further assess whether the fake accounts included in their mDAU stat is in fact lower than 5% as claimed by Twitter in all of its SEC filings. The mDAU stat is key to predicting the success of Twitter since 95% of its revenue comes from advertisers and fake people don’t convert to purchases.

    Another key aspect of the filing is Musk’s assertion that his team didn’t receive all of the Board materials they requested related to the Board members conversations about the mDAU metric and their calculation of the number of spam and false accounts.

    Why is this key? If Musk can show that Board members themselves had concerns about the accuracy of the “less than 5% mDAU are fake” metric then Musk doesn’t have to prove the stat is wrong, he can just point to Board statements. Musk did not provide any evidence that the Board in fact did discuss this issue substantively, but one assumes that because this stat is key to their business and their stock price, it’s likely they did to some extent. What was said in these possible discussions is key.

    Additionally, anything said by Board members or staff that counters the “less than 5% mDAU are fake” guidance by Twitter in SEC filings and in public statements would be evidence for any future SEC filings.

    581832232-Musk-SEC-Twitter-LetterDownload
  • The Deal Is Off: Musk Rescinds His Twitter Offer

    The Deal Is Off: Musk Rescinds His Twitter Offer

    Elon Musk has informed Twitter he is withdrawing his $44 billion bid to purchase the company, but the reality is much more complicated.

    After teasing the possibility of buying Twitter for some time, Musk finally made an offer, which the company’s board of directors eventually accepted. In relatively short order, Musk began to waffle, taking issue with Twitter’s reports concerning the number of spam accounts on the platform. Musk has now rescinded his offer, accusing the company of not being forthcoming with the data he wanted, despite the company giving him access to the data stream other companies pay to access.

    “Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr. Musk’s requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr. Musk incomplete or unusable information,” the letter to the SEC reads, according to The Washington Post.

    Bret Taylor, co-CEO of Salesforce and Twitter Chairman, said the company plans to pursue legal action to force Musk to follow through on the deal.

    Many legal experts are siding with Twitter, saying Musk will be hard-pressed to withdraw from the deal. According to the Post, the agreement included a commitment to go through with the deal unless there was a substantial change to the business. Musk is trying to say that the firing of two executives and layoffs in the company’s acquisition team meets that criteria, but experts say it’s extremely difficult to meet the legal requirements to satisfy the clause in question.

    The legal battle taking shape may drag on for months before a resolution is reached. In the meantime, Twitter will likely be worse for wear by the time that resolution occurs.

  • Twitter Lays Off 30% of Its Talent Acquisition Team

    Twitter Lays Off 30% of Its Talent Acquisition Team

    Twitter has laid off almost 100 of its talent acquisition team, comprising roughly 30% of it, as the company prepares for Elon Musk’s takeover.

    Twitter has experienced a tumultuous few months, with a takeover attempt by Musk looming on the horizon. The board of directors has approved the deal, but the company has had to make other changes in the short term, such as pausing hiring in May.

    According to The Wall Street Journal, the company has confirmed the layoffs in its recruiting team but has not commented further.

    Some are questioning whether the deal is still viable after Musk took issue with Twitter’s report on the number of spam accounts on the platform. The company has given Musk full access to its data streams in an effort to prove its claims that spam accounts only make up 5% of its monetizable user base.

    Given the steps Twitter has already taken, should the deal fall through, it may leave the social media company in a significantly weakened state.