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☆ Elon Musk says he’s found a new CEO for Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Elon Musk on Thursday said he’s found a new CEO to take over Twitter, months after he first promised to step back from the role. The new CEO will assume the role at Twitter Inc., which recently changed its name to X Corp., in the coming weeks, Musk said. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!” Musk said in a tweet. Musk has faced criticism for a series of policy changes at Twitter, which often came without clear justification and raised concerns about the impact on Twitter’s users. Even as Musk prepares to step back from the CEO role, he will likely maintain significant control over the future direction of the company.

☆ Musk says Twitter to soon allow calls, encrypted messaging
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 9 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk on Tuesday revealed details about new features including adding calls and encrypted messaging coming to the platform. Last year, Musk flagged plans for "Twitter 2.0 The Everything App", which he said would have features such as encrypted direct messages (DMs), longform tweets and payments. The call feature on Twitter will bring the micro-blogging platform into line with the likes of Meta's (META.O) social media applications, Facebook and Instagram, which have similar features. Musk said a version of encrypted direct messages will be available on Twitter starting Wednesday, but did not say if calls will be encrypted. Twitter this week said it will start a cleansing process by removing and archiving accounts that have been inactive for several years.

☆ Twitter to remove idle accounts, archive them
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 8 (Reuters) - Social media platform Twitter Inc will remove accounts that have been inactive for several years, CEO Elon Musk announced in a tweet on Monday, saying that the action is "important to free up abandoned handles." loadingTwitter's billionaire owner in a separate tweet said inactive accounts will be archived, Musk did not add any details on when the process will begin. It was not immediately known if or how Twitter users will be able to access archived accounts. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationMusk also said users on the micro-blogging platform could see a drop in follower count, as several inactive accounts might get removed. Earlier this month, Musk "threatened" to reassign National Public Radio's Twitter account to another company, after the public broadcaster stopped posting content to its 52 official Twitter feeds in protest against a Twitter label that implied government involvement in its editorial content.

☆ Twitter to remove inactive accounts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 8 (Reuters) - Social media platform Twitter Inc will remove accounts that have been inactive for several years, CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet on Monday. loadingMusk added that users on the micro-blogging platform could see a drop in follower count. Earlier this month, Musk "threatened" to reassign National Public Radio's Twitter account to another company, after the public broadcaster stopped posting content to its 52 official Twitter feeds in protest against a Twitter label that implied government involvement in its editorial content. Twitter last month removed the legacy verified blue tick from the profile of thousands of people, including celebrities, journalists and prominent politicians. Musk has made account verification a part of Twitter's Blue subscription, a move he said would tackle the issue of bot accounts on the social media platform.

But Gilliam gave Borodaenko, who lives in Scotts Valley, California, three weeks to file an amended lawsuit further detailing his claims in the lawsuit, proposed as a class action. Borodaenko, a cancer survivor, claims that Twitter fired him in November when he refused to stop working remotely. The lawsuit is one of several that Twitter is facing stemming from Musk's decision to lay off about half of the company's workforce. Twitter has denied wrongdoing in those cases, including ones claiming that female employees were targeted for layoffs and that the company failed to pay promised severance. Liss-Riordan also represents nearly 2,000 former Twitter employees who have filed legal claims against the company in arbitration.

May 3 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) has named Kim Posnett as the head of its global technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) investment banking group, according to an internal company memo. Posnett, who is currently the co-head of the One Goldman Sachs initiative at the bank, will continue to hold her existing responsibilities. The One Goldman Sachs initiative aims to integrate the bank's dealings with clients across teams. Posnett, who has also served as the global head of investment banking services at Goldman, is one of the few executives who spoke at the bank's investor day in February alongside its chief executive and finance head. In a separate memo sent out by Goldman's heads of global banking & markets, Ashok Varadhan, Dan Dees and Jim Esposito, Goldman also named Aasem Khalil as the new global head of its Investment Banking Services division.

☆ Factbox: Tech firms, Wall Street lead job cuts in Corporate America
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

read moreSpotify Technology SA (SPOT.N):Music streaming service Spotify is cutting 6% of its workforce, or roughly 600 roles. read moreMicrosoft Corp (MSFT.O):The U.S. tech giant said it would cut 10,000 jobs by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2023. Workday Inc (WDAY.O):The software company will cut roughly 500 jobs, or 3% of its workforce, citing a challenging macroeconomic environment. Morgan Stanley (MS.N):The Wall Street powerhouse is planning to cut about 3,000 jobs in the second quarter, Reuters reported. MANUFACTURING SECTOR3M Co (MMM.N):The industrial conglomerate said it would cut 2,500 manufacturing jobs after reporting a lower profit.

☆ Twitter to allow publishers to charge users on a per article basis starting May
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 29 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk said on Saturday that the social media platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per article basis with one click, calling it a win for both the public and media organizations. Since taking over the social media firm in October, Musk has swiftly moved through a number of product and organizational changes. The company rolled out Twitter-verified blue tick as a paid service and shrunk the employee base by about 80%. Musk has been bringing in changes to boost revenue at Twitter after the social media platform saw advertising income drop last year in the run-up to his on-again-off-again acquisition that closed. Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrea RicciOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Twitter to take 10% cut on content subscriptions after 12 months
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 28 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk said on Friday that the social media platform will take a 10% cut on content subscriptions after the first year, as the company looks to monetize content on the website in a bid to diversify its revenue sources. Earlier this month, billionaire owner Musk said users of the social media platform will be able to offer their followers subscriptions to content, including long-form text and hours-long video. He had also said that the company will not take a cut for the first 12 months on content subscriptions. He added that the company's cut from subscriptions on iOS and Android platforms will drop to 15% in the second year from 30% in the first. loadingReporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Elon Musk Sows Confusion on Twitter After Removing Legacy Check Marks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Alyssa Lukpat | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Twitter has made other changes to its check mark and labeling systems in recent months. Photo: Samantha laurey/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesTwitter Inc.’s move to remove legacy verifications is once again sowing confusion over who’s real and who isn’t on the social-media platform. The check mark removals are one of the most drastic changes Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, has made since he bought the platform in October. He has said for months that he wanted to make users pay a monthly fee to be verified.

☆ Conglomerate Starboard buys Parler, to shut down social media app temporarily
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 14 (Reuters) - Digital media conglomerate Starboard said on Friday it has bought Parler for an undisclosed sum and will temporarily shut down the social media app popular with U.S. conservatives to give itself time to roll out a revamped version of the platform. Starboard, formerly Olympic Media, founded in 2018 houses conservative-leaning platforms American Wire and BizPac Review. The Arlington, Virginia-based conglomerate did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for details on terms of the deal. Parler is one of several social media platforms, from among Gettr, Gab and Truth Social, that have positioned themselves as free-speech alternatives to Twitter Inc prior to its $44 billion acquisition by billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. "No reasonable person believes that a Twitter clone just for conservatives is a viable business any more," Starboard added.

☆ Twitter Inc. Changes Its Name to X Corp. and Moves to Nevada
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Alexa Corse | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/twitter-inc-changes-its-name-to-x-corp-and-moves-to-nevada-703ac892

☆ Musk says Twitter is roughly breaking even, has 1,500 employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Akriti Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 12 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday the social media company is "roughly breaking even," as most of its advertisers have returned and its aggressive cost-cutting efforts have started bearing fruit after massive layoffs. Musk, in an interview with BBC broadcast live on Twitter Spaces, said Twitter has about 1,500 employees now, a sharp decline from "just under 8,000 staff members" it had before he took it over in October. Musk acknowledged some glitches, including recent outages, but said they have not lasted very long. Twitter has been hit by a massive decline in advertising since his acquisition. Musk had said that was due to the cyclical nature of ad spending and some of which was "political."

☆ Elon Musk says Twitter is roughly breaking even
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 12 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday the social media company is "roughly breaking even," as most of its advertisers have returned. He made the comments in an interview with BBC broadcast live on Twitter Spaces that attracted more than 3 million listeners. Twitter has been hit by a massive decline in advertising since Musk acquired the company for $44 billion in October. Musk had said that was due to the cyclical nature of ad spending and some of which was "political." Musk said Twitter has about 1,500 employees now, a sharp decline from around 7,000 workers before his acquisition.

☆ Elon Musk further teased his ambition to turn Twitter into an 'everything app' with a cryptic tweet a week after the company merged into X Corp
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk simply tweeted "X" a week after Twitter Inc merged into his X Corp Holdings. Musk has said X will be an "everything app," and has applied for financial licenses for Twitter. "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app," the billionaire tweeted three weeks before his acquisition went through last October. The Twitter chief developed an affinity for the letter back in the 1990s, founding the company "X.com" which later became PayPal. That seems to include a payment service, as Twitter applied for regulatory licenses after his takeover, per the Financial Times.

☆ NPR Criticizes Twitter for Labeling Its Account as ‘State-Affiliated Media’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Alyssa Lukpat | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

National Public Radio criticized Twitter Inc. for labeling its social-media account as “US state-affiliated media,” a designation the independent public broadcaster on Wednesday said was disturbing and unacceptable. Twitter’s guidelines say the company adds the designation for government-controlled news sources. NPR says on its website that less than 1% of its budget comes from federal grants, including from the government-supported Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Most of NPR’s revenue comes from corporate sponsorships, it says, along with dues and fees paid by its member stations.

Five other cases are pending in the same court accusing Twitter of violating those laws, targeting female workers for layoffs and discriminating against employees with disabilities. Twitter laid off roughly 3,700 employees, or half its workforce, in early November in a cost-cutting measure by Musk, who paid $44 billion to acquire the social media platform. Twitter and Maryland-based TEKsystems, named as a defendant in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Liss-Riordan said she also has filed complaints in private arbitration on behalf of more than 1,700 former Twitter employees and contractors who signed agreements to arbitrate legal disputes. Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Elon Musk Revives Old Banking Dream in Pursuing $250 Billion Twitter Valuation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Tim Higgins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Behind Elon Musk’s gamble to turn Twitter Inc. into a company worth more than $250 billion is a beloved idea he has hung on to for more than two decades: digital banking. The billionaire entrepreneur has talked in dribs and drabs about what Twitter 2.0 might ultimately look like under his control. But late last week, he gave employees a taste of how grandiose his plans are, telling them he envisions Twitter being worth more than 10 times its current value of around $20 billion.

☆ Twitter Shares Some of the Secret Sauce Behind How It Works
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Sarah E. Needleman | Alexa Corse | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Twitter Inc. opened up a significant portion of its source code, an uncommon move for a large social-media company and one that owner Elon Musk said will make the platform more trustworthy. The code, posted Friday on the code-sharing site GitHub Inc., exposes how Twitter recommends posts and identifies problems such as hate speech. It doesn’t provide private user data or a road map for creating a replica of the platform. One expert likened the strategy to a chef sharing a recipe for ingredients that only he or she has.

☆ Elon Musk’s Move to Monetize Twitter’s Blue Check Mark Riles Celebrities
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Alexa Corse | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Twitter Inc.’s plan to remove legacy blue check marks for verified accounts heralds an end to a longtime social-media status symbol and is prompting complaints from some of the platform’s celebrity contributors concerned about potential impersonation. The departing system, in which Twitter verified notable accounts to confirm their authenticity by adding a blue check mark next to the user’s name, will give way starting April 1 to one in which users must purchase a subscription to be verified, the company has said. Twitter, which previously didn’t charge for verification, is only providing it now to those who pay $8 to $11 for a monthly subscription, depending on whether it is paid via mobile or web browser.

[1/3] A 3D printed Meta logo is seen in front of displayed Google logo in this illustration taken on November 2, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoBRASILIA, March 28 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) and Alphabet Inc's Google (GOOGL.O) defended before the Supreme Court on Tuesday a Brazilian law that holds Internet platforms are not responsible for content posted by users unless they are subject to a court order. If upheld, their appeals could establish jurisprudence that will apply to future cases concerning the responsibility for Internet content, at a time when social media companies are under pressure in Brazil due to a surge in the spread of political disinformation. Google Brasil lawyer Guilherme Sanchez said the company does not wait for court orders to remove content from its platforms. By contrast, in the same period Google received just 1,700 requests for the removal of content from its products.

March 26 (Reuters) - Some parts of Twitter Inc's source code have been leaked and the social media platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk is seeking information on the person responsible, a legal filing showed. According to the filing, "various excerpts" of Twitter's source code, which is used to run the company online, were posted on Github, a Microsoft-owned platform for sharing code for software development, by a user named 'FreeSpeechEnthusiast'. Github said it took down the code on Friday at Twitter's request. It also did not comment on how long Twitter's source code had been publicly available. Twitter also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ Elon Musk puts $20 bln value on Twitter - The Information
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 25 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk has offered the social-media company's employees stock grants at a valuation of nearly $20 billion, the Information reported on Saturday, citing a person familiar with an email Musk sent to Twitter staff. The reported valuation is less than half of the $44 billion that Musk paid to acquire the social media platform, pointing to a drop in Twitter's value. Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters' emailed request for a comment. Musk said in December that Twitter is on track to be "roughly cash flow break-even" in 2023 as top advertisers slashed their spending on the social-media platform after the billionaire' s takeover. Reporting by Rahat Sandhu in BengaluruOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Twitter Offers New Equity Grants to Staff
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Alexa Corse | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Twitter Inc. is offering new equity grants to staff that will start to vest after six months, according to an email sent late Friday that was viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The company plans to offer a liquidity event roughly a year from now, in which employees can cash out some of their equity, the email shows. The number of employees who received the equity grants and the value of the shares couldn’t be learned.

☆ Elon Musk Offers Employees Stock Grants Valuing Twitter at About $20 Billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Alexa Corse | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Elon Musk said Twitter Inc. employees will receive stock awards based on a roughly $20 billion valuation, less than half of the $44 billion price he acquired the company for last year, according to an email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Musk in the note to staff said he was optimistic about the social-media company’s future. “I see a clear, but difficult, path to a >$250B valuation,” meaning stock granted now would be worth 10 times more, he said.

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