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☆ Former Twitter execs sue Musk and X for more than $128 million in severance
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Lora Kolodny | In Lorakolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Former Twitter executives including CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, head of legal Vijaya Gadde and General Counsel Sean Edgett filed a new lawsuit against Elon Musk and X Corp. in federal court arguing that they are owed $128 million in unpaid severance. The ex-Twitter executives' lawyers argue, "These statements were not the mere rantings of a self-centered billionaire surrounded by enablers unwilling to confront him with the legal consequences of his own choices. Musk bragged to Isaacson specifically how he planned to cheat Twitter's executives out of their severance benefits in order to save himself $200 million." The suit, Agrawal et al v. Musk et al, was filed in California's Northern District and follows news that settlement talks between X Corp. and ex-Twitter managers broke down in a related case in Delaware, Woodfield v. Twitter Inc., where $500 million in unpaid severance to former Twitter managers and engineers is in dispute. Representatives for X Corp. and Elon Musk did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Persons: Parag Agrawal, Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde, Sean Edgett, Elon Musk, Musk, Walter Isaacson, Isaacson, Agrawal Organizations: Twitter, Elon, X Corp, Twitter Inc Locations: Delaware

☆ Why can’t we stop calling X, Twitter?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Saira Mueller | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

While some people (mainly fans of Musk) have embraced the X brand, most have not. Many people, both online and in person, still call the platform Twitter, and refer to posts as tweets. WHY ARE WE STILL CALLING THIS PLATFORM TWITTER. Even when you do see X, it's framed as "X, formerly Twitter". So the brand is what they say it is… it’s not that customers can’t stop calling it Twitter, it’s that they won’t.”

Persons: it’s, adieu, Elon Musk, — Jack Scalfani, ”, — Sherrye Pomeroy, Linda Yaccarino, It’s, ” Ramon Jimenez, Wolff Olins, “, ” Marty Neumeier, —, Musk, ’, Zoë Schiffer, Schiffer, Josh Adelson, X, x.com, ” Musk, wasn’t, Neumeier, “ It’s, ’ ” Elon Musk, Alain Jocard, James Withey, Kirill Kudryavtsev, Withey, — Sandy Horne Organizations: CNN, Twitter, Premium, Twitter Twitter, Global, Merriam, Webster, Oxford English, Liquid Agency, Elon, Musk, Twitter Inc, X Corp, Getty, The New York Times, Apple, Adobe, Google, Strategy, Innovation, Nissan, Datsun Locations: @sherrye_pomeroy, San Francisco, Paris, AFP, Frankfurt, Germany, @SandyHorne61

☆ Block shares surge as much as 14% after company announces surprise profit
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Block stock rose as much as 14% in extended trading Thursday after the payments company reported fourth-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates on gross profit and showed strong growth in its Square and Cash App revenue. Revenue: $5.77 billion vs. $5.70 billion expectedBlock posted $2.03 billion in gross profit, up 22% from a year ago. Analysts tend to focus on gross profit as a more accurate measurement of the company's core transactional businesses. Its Cash App business reported $1.18 billion in gross profit, a 25% year-over-year rise. The company, which is run by Jack Dorsey, said its Cash App Card has 23 million monthly actives in December, up 20%.

Persons: Jack Dorsey, Dorsey Organizations: Twitter Inc, Inc, Cash Locations: Miami , Florida

☆ US SEC shortens deadline to disclose 5% stock ownership to 5 days
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Douglas Gillison | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2021. As adopted, the rule also shortens the disclosure deadline for certain institutional investors to 45 days from the end of the quarter in which their ownership stake surpasses 5%. Previously, the deadline was 45 days from the end of the calendar year. In advance of the announcement, SEC officials told reporters the final rule had been softened in important ways from the original proposal. The SEC announced the new rule changes after they had already been adopted rather than through a public meeting.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, Gary Gensler, Elon Musk, Hester Peirce, Peirce, Douglas Gillison, David Gregorio, Nick Zieminski, Mark Porter Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Washington , D.C, REUTERS, SEC, Republican, Thomson Locations: Washington ,

via REUTERS Acquire Licensing RightsNEW DELHI, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Social media platform X's head of policy for India and South Asia, Samiran Gupta, has resigned, two sources said, a top departure that comes ahead of India elections and as the company fights a court battle with New Delhi over content removal. Gupta was the most senior India employee for X, formerly known as Twitter, and responsible for "key content-related policy issues" and "defending Twitter's position with new policy developments and support in-country sales organization," according to his LinkedIn profile. Gupta, who was designated as X's Head of Global Government Affairs for India and South Asia, declined to comment to Reuters. There are roughly 15 X employees in functions like compliance and engineering in India, said one of the sources, but Gupta was the only executive engaging with the government and political parties. India in September told a court X is a "habitual non-compliant platform" and for years has not followed many orders to remove content, undermining the government's role.

Persons: Samiran Gupta, Gupta, Elon Musk, Musk, Narendra Modi, Aditya Kalra, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: REUTERS Acquire, Twitter, Global Government Affairs for, Reuters, LinkedIn, Elon, Twitter Inc, Thomson Locations: DELHI, India, South Asia, New Delhi, Global Government Affairs for India, Delhi

☆ Exclusive: Musk-owned X's content moderation shift complicated effort to win back brands -former exec
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

'X' logo is seen on the top of the headquarters of the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, California, U.S., July 30, 2023. "I didn't always have access to other people who were doing (brand safety) work," he said of his time at Twitter. Before acquiring Twitter, Musk had criticized the platform for limiting free speech by removing certain content and having a politically liberal bias. Still, Brown said he felt supported in his brand safety work by Musk and Ella Irwin, Twitter's then-head of trust and safety, who resigned days before Brown. FALLING REVENUEOn Monday, Musk said X's declining ad revenue was primarily due to pressure from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Persons: Carlos Barria, AJ Brown, Musk, Linda Yaccarino, Brown, NBCUniversal, Ella Irwin, Twitter's, AJ, Jonathan Greenblatt, X, Sheila Dang, Kenneth Li Organizations: REUTERS, Elon Musk, Twitter, Brand Safety Institute, BSI, Kroger, Defamation League, Anti, Defamation, ADL, Center, X, Thomson Locations: San Francisco , California, U.S, Dallas

☆ Elon Musk rebrands Twitter to 'X,' replaces iconic bird logo
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter owner Elon Musk officially changed the company's famous bird logo to an "X" on Monday as part of a sweeping rebrand he announced on the social media site over the weekend. The transition from Twitter to X reflects Musk's vision to turn the platform into what he has called an "everything app." Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote in a post Sunday that X will be "centered in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking." The company first began its transition to X in April, when the name of Twitter Inc. changed to X Corp., according to court filings. He shared a photo of the X logo projected onto the company's headquarters Monday.

Persons: Elon Musk, adieu, Linda Yaccarino, Musk Organizations: Twitter, Twitter Inc, X Corp, SpaceX, Musk's, Confinity, PayPal Locations: Warsaw, Poland

And Twitter's cash flow has been negative as a result of that and its heavy debt load. Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester, said on Sunday that the move would further alienate Twitter's original, and once fiercely loyal, user base. The billionaire Musk said in a Sunday post he wanted to change Twitter's logo and polled his millions of followers whether they would favor changing the site's color scheme from blue to black. Twitter logo and a photo of Elon Musk are displayed through magnifier in this illustration taken October 27, 2022. In April, Twitter's legacy blue bird logo was temporarily replaced by Dogecoin's Shiba Inu dog, helping drive a surge in the cryptocurrency's market value.

Persons: Elon Musk, Mike Proulx, Forrester, Musk, Dado Ruvic, adieu, Linda Yaccarino, Twitter, Dogecoin's Shiba, Mrinmay Dey, Rishabh, William Mallard, Jan Harvey, Cynthia Osterman, Diane Craft Organizations: Twitter Inc, REUTERS, Twitter, X Corp, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

"Interim X logo goes live later today," Musk said on Twitter adding that "X.com" would now redirect to Twitter's website. Musk's X Corp owns Twitter. The billionaire said in a Sunday post he wanted to change Twitter's logo and polled his millions of followers whether they would favor changing the site's color scheme from blue to black. Twitter logo and a photo of Elon Musk are displayed through magnifier in this illustration taken October 27, 2022. In April, Twitter's legacy blue bird logo was temporarily replaced by Dogecoin's Shiba Inu dog, helping drive a surge in the cryptocurrency's market value.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Dado Ruvic, adieu, Musk's, Dogecoin's Shiba, Mrinmay Dey, Rishabh, William Mallard, Jan Harvey, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: Twitter Inc, Twitter, X Corp, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Why Tesla investors should care about Elon Musk's multiplying ventures
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk's multiple ventures and the relationships between them are facing increased scrutiny as the Tesla CEO continues to add more to his plate. Can you talk about how xAI might overlap, might perhaps compete with Tesla or in other ways perhaps it enhances the value of what Tesla does?" Musk previously enlisted Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Co. employees to assist him with his Twitter takeover, as CNBC reported. At least one senior Tesla employee has jumped ship to Musk's X Corp., the parent company of Twitter. Among these, Tesla revealed that "Twitter is party to certain commercial and support agreements with Tesla.

Persons: Elon, William Stein, Musk, Google Bard, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Stein, Tesla, Charles Kuehmann, Sen, Elizabeth Warren, He's, funder, Batura Organizations: Google, Tesla, Apple, SpaceX, Securities and Exchange Commission, Twitter, Co, CNBC, X Corp Locations: Nevada

Twitter laid off more than half of its workforce as a cost-cutting measure after Musk acquired the company last October. A similar lawsuit was filed last week in California federal court claiming Twitter owes ex-employees more than $500 million in severance. Woodfield also claims that Twitter targeted him to be laid off because he is an "older worker," though the complaint does not state his age. According to the lawsuit, Woodfield signed an agreement to arbitrate work-related legal disputes that requires Twitter to pay the initial fees to allow individual cases to proceed. But Woodfield claims Twitter has refused to pay the fee in his case, blocking it from going forward.

Persons: Chris Woodfield, Musk, Twitter, Woodfield, Daniel Wiessner, Alexia Garamfalvi, Deepa Babington Organizations: Twitter, Elon, Thomson Locations: Delaware, Seattle, California, Albany , New York

"Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else," Musk wrote in response to a tweet. Musk took over Twitter in October of last year in a deal valued at around $44 billion, including about $13 billion in debt. He also claimed at that time that the company was "roughly breakeven," and expected to become cash flow positive within the next quarter. A number of widely followed accounts on Twitter posted that they were dismayed they did not qualify to earn income from the program yet. It's not clear how much Twitter paid creators in total in this first round of payments.

Persons: Elon Musk, Porte, Alain JOCARD, ALAIN JOCARD, Musk, Linda Yaccarino, Comcast's NBCUniversal, NBCUniversal, Twitter, Andrew Tate —, Tate, influencers, Omar Qazi, Sawyer Merritt, Brian, Ed Krassenstein Organizations: SpaceX, Twitter, Porte de, Getty, BBC, CNBC, Internet Hall of Fame, of, X Corp Locations: Paris, AFP, Romania

But Twitter only gave laid-off workers at most one month of severance pay, and many of them did not receive anything, McMillian claims. Twitter laid off more than half of its workforce as a cost-cutting measure after Musk acquired the company in October. The lawsuit accuses Twitter and Musk of violating a federal law regulating employee benefit plans. Twitter has already been sued for allegedly failing to pay severance, but those cases involve breach of contract claims and not the benefits law. A pending lawsuit filed last month accuses Twitter of also failing to pay millions of dollars in bonuses it owes to remaining employees.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Elon Musk, Courtney McMillian, McMillian, Musk, Daniel Wiessner, Alexia Garamfalvi, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Elon, Twitter, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: San Francisco federal, Albany , New York

July 10 (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley (MS.N) has hired senior investment banker Marco Caggiano from JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), where he led the bank's North America mergers and acquisitions (M&A) business, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Caggiano, a veteran investment banker who spent 23 years with JPMorgan, will join Morgan Stanley as vice chairman of M&A, the sources said. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Caggiano trained as a lawyer and worked at Paul Hastings before he joined JPMorgan. He was co-head of North America M&A before Chris Roop, his other co-head, exited JPMorgan last year to join Jefferies Financial Group Inc (JEF.N).

Persons: Morgan Stanley, Marco Caggiano, Caggiano, Elon Musk, Paul Hastings, Chris Roop, Svea Herbst, Bayliss, Anirban Sen, Greg Roumeliotis Organizations: JPMorgan Chase &, JPMorgan, Twitter Inc, Elon, Zynga, Hasbro Inc, Alta Fox, Jefferies Financial Group Inc, Svea, Thomson Locations: America, Rhode Island, New York

☆ Suspended Twitter account tracking Elon Musk's jet moves to Threads
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 8 (Reuters) - Jack Sweeney, the creator of an account tracking Elon Musk's private jet in real time, has moved to Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter-rival Threads after being suspended from Twitter last year. read Sweeney's first post on Thursday from the account handle @elonmusksjet, which had over 21,000 followers as of Saturday morning. ElonJet has tracked the movements of Musk's private jet using data available in the public domain. In December Twitter Inc, owned by Musk, suspended the ElonJet account, with the billionaire threatening legal action against the account's operator after saying his son had been mistakenly followed by a "crazy stalker". Sweeney, Twitter and Meta did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Persons: Jack Sweeney, Elon, Mark Zuckerberg's, ElonJet, Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez, Representative Alexandria Ocasio, Sweeney, Meta, Jyoti Narayan, Chizu Organizations: Mark Zuckerberg's Twitter, Twitter, Musk, Democratic U.S, Representative, Thomson Locations: Cortez, Bengaluru

July 6 (Reuters) - A federal judge's order restricting Biden administration officials from contacting social media companies about moderating their content will face tough legal challenges on appeal, experts said. The Biden administration on Wednesday filed a notice with the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. THREAT OF HARMThe Biden administration has argued that there was no threat of harm because the lawsuit challenged communications that ended more than a year ago. It also said that while it urged social media companies to stop the spread of dangerous misinformation, the companies themselves - including Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O), YouTube owner Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Twitter Inc - ultimately made their own decisions. Burt Neuborne, a professor at New York University School of Law, was more skeptical of the free speech claims.

Persons: Terry Doughty, Biden, Jonathan Turley, Doughty's, Doughty, Jameel Jaffer, Jaffer, Mark MacCarthy, Burt Neuborne, I'm, You'd, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Brendan Pierson, Andrew Goudsward, Kanishka Singh, Alexia Garamfalvi, Leslie Adler Organizations: Biden, U.S, District, New, Circuit, Appeals, George Washington University Law School, Department of Health, Human Services, Facebook, Inc, Twitter Inc, Meta, Columbia University, Brookings Institution, New York University School of Law, Republican, Democrat, Thomson Locations: Louisiana, New Orleans, Missouri, U.S, New York, Washington

☆ Australian firm sues Twitter for $665,000 for not paying bills
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, July 3 (Reuters) - An Australian project management firm has filed a lawsuit against Twitter Inc in a U.S. court seeking cumulative payments of about A$1 million ($665,000) over alleged non-payment of bills for work done in four countries, court filings showed. The Australian firm's lawsuit is the latest alleging non-payment of bills and rent against Twitter since Elon Musk bought the social media platform for $44 billion last year. For those works, Twitter owed the company about 203,000 pounds, S$546,600 and A$61,300, respectively, Facilitate said. In May, a former public relations firm filed a suit in a New York court saying Twitter had not paid its bills, while early this year U.S.-based advisory firm Innisfree M&A Inc sued it, seeking about $1.9 million for what it said were unpaid bills after it advised Twitter on its acquisition by Musk. ($1 = 1.5038 Australian dollars)Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Sonali PaulOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Elon Musk, Twitter, Innisfree, Musk, Renju Jose, Sonali Paul Organizations: SYDNEY, Twitter Inc, Corp, United States, Court, Northern, Twitter, Elon, X Corp, Inc, Thomson Locations: Australian, U.S, Sydney, California, London, Dublin, Singapore, Australia, New York

Companies Twitter Inc FollowJune 21 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc is facing a lawsuit claiming it failed to pay workers millions of dollars in promised bonuses, adding to a pile of court cases filed since Elon Musk acquired the social media company. Schobinger says that before and after Musk purchased Twitter last year, the company promised employees that they would receive 50% of their target bonuses for 2022. But those payments never materialized, according to the lawsuit, which accuses Twitter of breach of contract. Twitter in those cases is accused of failing to pay promised severance and targeting female employees and workers with disabilities for layoffs, among other claims. Many landlords, vendors and consultants have also sued Twitter over unpaid bills, some of which Musk inherited when he bought the company.

Persons: Elon Musk, Mark Schobinger, Schobinger, Musk, Shannon Liss, Riordan, Parag Agrawal, Daniel Wiessner, Alexia Garamfalvi, Conor Humphries Organizations: Twitter, Elon, X Corp, Thomson Locations: San Francisco federal, Delaware, Albany , New York

☆ RFK Jr.'s presidential bid gains boost from Silicon Valley elite
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid for the Democratic nomination for president has gained a boost from several Silicon Valley executives. Block CEO Jack Dorsey endorsed Kennedy on Twitter on Sunday, while Twitter owner Elon Musk invited the contender to a live audio discussion on the platform. ET on Twitter on Monday and will be moderated by venture capitalist David Sacks, another prominent name in Silicon Valley. A recent Fox News survey found 19% of Democratic primary voters surveyed said they would support Kennedy in the primary, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. After he took over Twitter, the platform stopped enforcing its previous policy to remove misleading information regarding Covid.

Persons: Jack Dorsey, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Kennedy, Elon Musk, David Sacks, Musk, Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Sacks, Joe Biden, Tesla, Dorsey, Andrew Yang, Tulsi Gabbard Organizations: Twitter Inc, Inc, Democratic, Twitter, Republican Florida Gov, Fox, U.S . Rep, CNBC, YouTube Locations: Miami , Florida, U.S, Silicon Valley, California

☆ Elon Musk's boost to Twitter's popularity is being 'unwound' as usage drops, new data shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter led to an uptick in downloads and usage for several weeks. Elon Musk's boost to Twitter's popularity may have been short-lived. A separate analysis of engagement with Musk's Twitter account shows a similar downward trend. All Twitter users averaged, 19.1 minutes spent on the app per day in April, Apptopia found. Younger users hit 15.9 minutes a day on the app in October, up from 13 minutes about six months earlier.

Persons: Elon Musk's, Musk, Tom Grant, Apptopia, Grant, Data.ai, Kali Hays Organizations: Elon, Twitter, Facebook, Silicon Valley Bank Locations: Apptopia, Silicon, khays

☆ Twitter alleges "unauthorized" data usage by Microsoft
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 18 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc has alleged that Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) violated an agreement over using the social media company's data, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Thursday. Twitter owner Elon Musk's lawyer leveled accusations of "unauthorized" usage of Twitter's data by Microsoft, including sharing data with government agencies without permission in some cases. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company on Thursday heard from a law firm representing Twitter with some questions about its previous use of the free Twitter APIs. Twitter's accusations come at a time when Elon Musk is at odds with Microsoft over its artificial intelligence platform. Musk said in April he will launch AI platform "TruthGPT" to challenge the offerings from Microsoft and Google.

The justices in a second ruling shielded Twitter Inc from litigation seeking to apply a federal law called the Anti-Terrorism Act. This case marked the first time the Supreme Court had examined Section 230's reach. Many conservatives have said voices on the right are censored by social media companies under the guise of content moderation. Gonzalez's family argued that YouTube provided unlawful assistance to the Islamic State by recommending the militant group's content to users. In the Twitter case, the 9th Circuit did not consider whether Section 230 barred the family's lawsuit.

The court in a separate case involving Google LLC sidestepped a bid to weaken legal protections for internet firms. In the Twitter case, the 9th Circuit did not consider whether Section 230 barred the family's lawsuit. Islamic State called the Istanbul attack revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. Twitter in court papers has said that it has terminated more than 1.7 million accounts for violating rules against "threatening or promoting terrorism." The family had argued that YouTube provided unlawful assistance to the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the attack, by recommending the militant group's content to users.

That case involved a lawsuit by the family of Nohemi Gonzalez, a 23-year-old college student from California who was fatally shot in an Islamic State attack in Paris in 2015, of a lower court's decision to throw out their lawsuit. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2021 allowed it to proceed, concluding that Twitter had refused to take "meaningful steps" to prevent Islamic State's use of the platform. In the Twitter case, the 9th Circuit did not consider whether Section 230 barred the family's lawsuit. Islamic State called the Istanbul attack revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. Twitter in court papers has said that it has terminated more than 1.7 million accounts for violating rules against "threatening or promoting terrorism."

Companies Tesla Inc FollowTwitter Inc FollowSAN FRANCISCO, May 16 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) boss Elon Musk, who has never used traditional advertising to sell cars, said on Tuesday that the automaker would try it and see whether it produced results. Musk said it was "ironic" that as CEO of Tesla, he now owns Twitter. The social media platform is highly dependent on ads and will soon be led by advertising veteran Linda Yaccarino, who he hired last week. Since Musk acquired Twitter in October, advertisers have fled the social media platform, worried that their ads could appear next to inappropriate content after the company lost nearly 80% of its staff. But on Tuesday, he said many people did not know about the affordability of Tesla cars and their "amazing" features and functionality.

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