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☆ Twitter HQ won't move out of San Francisco despite 'doom spiral' affecting the city, Elon Musk says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk says he has no plans to move Twitter, now X, out of San Francisco. He said Twitter's headquarters will stay put despite a "doom spiral" currently affecting the city. San Francisco, beautiful San Francisco, though others forsake you, we will always be your friend." Meta, PayPal, and Snap have all slashed their San Francisco office space in recent years. In May he called downtown San Francisco, where Twitter's HQ is located, a "derelict zombie apocalypse."

Persons: Elon Musk, San Francisco, Musk, he's Organizations: Twitter, Whole Foods, Meta, PayPal, San Locations: San Francisco, San, California, Francisco, The California, Miami, Florida

☆ The world's top H.P. Lovecraft expert weighs in on a monstrous viral meme in the A.I. world
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Mike Calia | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Lovecraft's novella "At the Mountains of Madness" — aren't quite perfect, according to the world's leading Lovecraft scholar, S.T. "While I'm sure Lovecraft would be grateful (and amused) by the application of his creation to AI, the parallels are not very exact," Joshi wrote. Read more: How to talk about AI like an insiderFirst of all, it's "shoggoth," not "Shoggoth," Joshi said. "It is a species name, not a proper name," Joshi wrote in an email to CNBC. For instance, a recent fake Toronto Blue Jays ad, created by a TSN producer who used text-to-video AI tech, is packed with horrifying images such as people feasting on each other's hot dog tentacles.

Persons: H.P, S.T, Joshi, Lovecraft, it's Joshi, He's, Kevin Roose, Roose, Harlan Ellison's Organizations: Lovecraft, Providence, The New York Times, CNBC, Times, Workers, Toronto Blue Jays, TSN Locations: A.I, Antarctica

☆ Elon Musk’s Twitter Cuts More Jobs as Platform Seeks to Slash Costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Alexa Corse | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Constanza Hevia H. for The Wall Street JournalTwitter has shed employees since Elon Musk acquired it last year. Twitter Inc. conducted another round of job cuts over the weekend, people familiar with the matter said, the latest among thousands of staff reductions under new owner Elon Musk. The cuts come as billionaire Mr. Musk has been pursuing sweeping changes to the platform, including slashing costs, releasing new features and changing content-moderation policies.

☆ Some Twitter staff on H-1B visas and parental leave were fired in Elon Musk's pre-Thanksgiving purge, a former engineer says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Twitter engineer of three years said Elon Musk's "Twitter 2.0" team fired him before Thanksgiving. He said he was on a H-1B visa and many workers on "parental leave" had also been fired. Yiwei Zhuang, a software engineer of three years at Twitter, said his "employment is terminated immediately with no reason today by Elon's Twitter 2.0 team before Thanksgiving." Zhuang was one of roughly 700 employees on H-1B visas at Twitter prior to Musk laying off 50% of the company. Many H-1B workers were affected and are struggling to find roles to stay in the US.

☆ How Elon Musk’s Twitter Faces Mountain of Debt, Falling Revenue and Surging Costs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Mark Maurer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +10 min

Elon Musk says his $44 billion Twitter takeover might result in a bankruptcy filing. To make the deal work, Mr. Musk has been trying to add subscription revenue and reassure advertisers about the platform’s future. What’s more, the company’s debt stack now includes floating-rate debt, meaning that interest costs are set to rise as the Federal Reserve continues to increase interest rates. Twitter’s credit ratings, which were below investment grade before the transaction with Mr. Musk, have deteriorated further. For that, Mr. Musk would need to persuade potential investors that he has a viable long-term business plan, he said.

☆ Hundreds of Twitter employees on H-1B visas fear being deported if Elon Musk fires them
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Hundreds of Twitter employees on special visas could be deported after Elon Musk's job cuts. A Forbes report suggests nearly 700 Twitter employees were on H-1B employment-tied visas. According to data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Twitter has given "initial approval" to 168 H-1B visas since 2020. It is unclear what departments visa-tied Twitter employees work for, or how susceptible their positions are to layoffs. He previously reprimanded Donald Trump in 2017 for the then-President's decision to suspend the special work visas.

☆ Witter Family Office bets big on crypto, 'still believes' in blockchain technology
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-11 | by ( Robert Frank | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Sherry Pryor Witter, CEO of the Witter Family Office, said crypto and blockchain accounted for about 40% of the office's assets at their peak. "I think this is a great time to get into the better projects of crypto," said Witter, who started buying crypto tokens in 2018. A recent survey of family offices in a BNY Mellon Wealth Management and Harris poll found that 77% of family offices were exploring or investing in crypto. Family innovation Witter said innovation has always been at the heart of the Witter family. Witter admits, however, that her broader strategy of becoming a "crypto and blockchain" family office has had to shift.

Persons: Witter, Sherry Pryor Witter, Harris, Dean Witter, Dean, Michael D, Dean Witter's, Eddie Lampert, Michael, I'm Organizations: Witter Family Office, Witter Family, Mellon Wealth Management, Dean Witter & Co, Flare Network Locations: Wall, U.S, Flushing

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