DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

CNN —Elon Musk said Friday that Twitter has seen a “massive drop in revenue,” as a growing number of advertisers pause spending on the platform in the wake of his $44 billion acquisition. On Friday, organizations including the Anti-Defamation League, Free Press and GLAAD, upped their pressure campaign for more brands to rethink advertising on Twitter. Musk, known as both an innovative entrepreneur and an erratic figure, has promised to rethink Twitter’s content moderation policies and undo permanent bans of controversial figures, including former President Donald Trump. Most marketers bristle at the thought of having their ads run alongside toxic content such as hate speech, pornography or misinformation. Ad buying giant Interpublic Group, which works with consumer brands such as Unilever and Coca Cola, earlier this week also recommended its clients pause advertising on the platform.

☆ Elon Musk says Twitter has had 'massive' revenue drop as advertisers pause spending
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk, Founder and Chief Engineer of SpaceX, speaks during the Satellite 2020 Conference in Washington, DC, United States on March 9, 2020. Twitter has suffered a "massive drop in revenue" because of advertisers pausing advertising on the social media platform, Elon Musk, the new owner of the company, said Friday. In recent days, a number of companies said they would temporarily pause their advertising spending on Twitter to see how things would change there under Musk's ownership. Tesla competitors General Motors and Audi, and food titan General Mills are among the companies that have paused Twitter spending after Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition on October 28. Ad giant IPG advised clients to temporarily pause their Twitter media plans as well.

☆ Musk says Twitter saw revenue slump as activist groups pressured advertisers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 4 (Reuters) - New owner Elon Musk said on Friday that Twitter Inc had seen a "massive" drop in revenue and blamed activist groups pressuring advertisers. The world's richest person, who took control of the social media company last week, said the decline came "even though nothing has changed with content moderation and we did everything we could to appease the activists." Twitter recorded a fall in revenue in its last reported quarterly results in July, blaming Musk's $44 billion buyout proposal and a weakening digital advertising market. At a presentation for advertisers in May, some ad agencies and brands were already skeptical on concerns that Musk would scale back content moderation and security protection on the platform. read moreTwitter will form a content moderation council "with widely diverse viewpoints", Musk tweeted last Friday, adding that no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before the council convenes.

☆ Tesla stock has dropped more than 35% since Elon Musk first said he'd buy Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

(Photo by Gotham/Getty Images)Since Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced his bid to buy social network Twitter , shares in his electric vehicle maker have dipped by more than 35%, and closed down just 3.6% for the day on Friday, amid a market rally that followed a volatile week. Musk first announced he had agreed to buy Twitter on April 25, 2022. Tesla shares closed that day at $332.67, and closed today at $207.47 capping his first full week of Twitter ownership. He has not said who, if anyone, may replace him as Twitter CEO, although he has told followers on Twitter that his position as sole director and CEO of the social network is temporary. Musk's ownership of the social network has caused some automakers, including GM and Audi, to pause ad spending there.

☆ General Mills, Audi and Pfizer Join Growing List of Companies Pausing Twitter Ads
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Suzanne Vranica | Patience Haggin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Food company General Mills Inc., Oreo maker Mondelez International Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Volkswagen AG’s Audi are among a growing list of brands that have temporarily paused their Twitter advertising in the wake of the takeover of the company by Elon Musk, according to people familiar with the matter. Some advertisers are concerned that Mr. Musk could scale back content moderation, which they worry would lead to an increase in objectionable content on the platform. Others are temporarily halting their ads because of the uncertainty at the company as top executives exit and Mr. Musk considers a raft of changes, some of the people said.

☆ In closed-door meeting, Elon Musk tells 100 top ad execs that he will improve brand safety on Twitter and that he will personally oversee its new video product
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | Lindsay Rittenhouse | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk spoke on Thursday with more than 100 advertisers and ad agency executives in a virtual meeting to reassure them that Twitter will remain safe to advertise on, following his takeover. The Washington Post reported earlier this week that Musk's Twitter is working on a paid-for video feature, in which creators could charge viewers for access. One advertising executive who met with Musk earlier this week said Musk "said all the right things" on the topic of brand safety. Musk had also said that Twitter could be using its data in a more efficient way to improve results for advertisers. General Mills, Mondelez, Pfizer, and Audi all paused ads on Twitter, according to The Wall Street Journal.

☆ Cheerios maker General Mills, Audi of America pause advertising on Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Packages of Cheerios, a brand owned by General Mills, are seen in a store in Manhattan, New York, U.S., November 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew KellyNov 3 (Reuters) - General Mills Inc (GIS.N) and Luxury automaker Audi of America said on Thursday they have paused advertising on Twitter, days after the social media platform was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk for $44 billion. "We will continue to monitor this new direction and evaluate our marketing spend," a General Mills spokesperson said. Audi of America, the Herndon, Virginia-based U.S. unit of Audi - a Volkswagen Group (VOWG_p.DE) brand - said it would "continue to evaluate the situation." The two companies join top U.S. automaker General Motors Co (GM.N), which last week said it had temporarily halted paid advertising on Twitter.

☆ Audi of America pauses paid Twitter advertising
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Luxury automaker Audi of America said on Thursday it has paused paid advertising on Twitter, the latest company to do so after the social media platform was acquired by billionaire Elon Musk. The Herndon, Virginia-based U.S. unit of Audi, a Volkswagen Group (VOWG_p.DE) brand, said it would "continue to evaluate the situation." Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Volkswagen sells WeShare to Berlin-based carsharing service
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BERLIN, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) said on Tuesday it would sell its carsharing service WeShare to Miles Mobility, under a deal that sees the Berlin-based competitor order more than 10,000 electric cars from the Audi, Seat/Cupra and VW brands. Volkswagen said it would not disclose the selling price as per the agreement. Reporting by Jan Schwarz, Writing by Rachel MoreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Portland Thorns Win NWSL Title, Capping Season of Off-Field Turmoil
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Rachel Bachman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Sophia Smith scored the game’s opening goal for the Portland Thorns in the NWSL title game. WASHINGTON—The Portland Thorns entered Saturday night’s National Women’s Soccer League title game with a difficult assignment: to win a championship for the team whose management is at the heart of a league-wide scandal over the sexual abuse and harassment of players. Yet the Thorns capped a season of turmoil with a 2-0 win over the Kansas City Current for the league championship in front of 17,624 at Audi Field.

☆ Audi supports one-off staff payments over permanent wage hikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, Oct 30 (Reuters) - German carmaker Audi is in favour of offering employees one-off tax-free payments instead of permanent wage increases, its human resources director said, as unions across Europe's biggest economy demand higher wages in light of rising inflation. Workers' purchasing power in Germany has already taken a hit, with consumer price inflation at 11.6% in October. Employers, however, do not see much scope for wage increases due to the rising costs of material and energy. But such payment could be a way to reach an agreement, Audi HR Director Xavier Ros said, adding that responding to rising consumer prices with significant wage increases would harm the economy in the long-term. Audi, a Volkswagen Group (VOWG_p.DE) brand, is not itself a direct partner in the wage negotiations, but it adopts the talks outcomes in a collective wage agreement.

☆ Renault-backed Beyonca EV venture touts health monitoring, targets Audi in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Soh, Beyonca's chairman, said the company was targeting the high-end premium segment, where they would compete with models such as Audi's A8L, BMW's 7 Series and Mercedes' S Class. Soh said that by the time the car was launched, third generation EV technology would offer faster charging times and longer driving ranges. Soh acknowledged the difficult backdrop but pointed to steady growth in the premium car segment, which he said had potential annual sales of 3 million cars in China. He declined to say how much Beyonca had raised from investors or how large a stake Renault and Dongfeng held in the company. Beyonca is headquartered in Beijing and has a design center in Munich and an artificial intelligence development hub in Singapore.

☆ Portland Thorns defeat Kansas City Current to win the 2022 NWSL championship
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Jacob Lev | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

CNN —The Portland Thorns defeated the Kansas City Current to win the 2022 National Women’s Soccer League championship on Saturday. The 2-0 victory at the Audi Field in Washington DC gives the Thorns their third championship in team history. Portland had an early lead during Saturday’s game with Thorns striker Sophia Smith scoring the first goal four minutes into the match. The 22-year-old Smith became the youngest regular-season MVP in NWSL history this season. In the second half, Kansas City’s Addisyn Merrick netted an own goal to extend Portland’s lead.

☆ Porsche’s IPO Hasn’t Helped Volkswagen Much
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Stephen Wilmot | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Volkswagen risks learning the wrong lessons from taking Porsche public. In his first quarterly-results call with investors since taking the top job at VW, Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume on Friday said the “big success” of last month’s Porsche initial public offering would be a “role model” for all of the group’s brands, which include the likes of Audi as well as VW itself. The company has no immediate plans for any more IPOs, but it will host a capital-markets day next spring to lay out “virtual equity stories” for its other badges. Mr. Blume hopes this will “lead to a complete equity story for the Volkswagen group.”

☆ Audi partners with Swiss Sauber for Formula One
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sauber has been involved in Formula One since 1993 and currently competes with Ferrari engines, under the name of Alfa Romeo, a Stellantis brand. "Together we want to write the next chapter from 2026," Adam Baker, CEO of Audi Formula Racing said. Sauber Motorsport said in a statement that the team will continue to use Ferrari power units for the next three seasons until the rules change. "Audi is the best strategic partner for the Sauber Group," said Sauber Holding's board chairman Finn Rausing, the Swedish billionaire whose family owns packaging company Tetra Laval. Formula One's next generation of power units will have significantly more electrical power and use 100% sustainable fuels from 2026.

☆ Audi F1 deal marks a big step up for Swiss-based Sauber
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Alan Baldwin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Sauber's transformation into the Audi works Formula One team from 2026, announced on Wednesday, is a big step up for the Swiss-based outfit who now have a real possibility of returning to the top of the podium. Audi will build the engines in Bavaria and that is familiar territory for Sauber, who entered Formula One in 1993 and whose last stint as a proper works team was with BMW between 2006-2010. "The partnership between Audi AG and Sauber Motorsport is a key step for our team as we continue to make progress towards the front of the grid," said Sauber Motorsport CEO and team principal Frederic Vasseur. Adam Baker, who is now chief executive of Audi's Formula One project, was a race team engineer at BMW Sauber where in 2007 he also became head of the race and test team for the BMW F1 Powertrain. Then, as now, Sauber offered the attractive prospect of a ready made team without the hassle and expense of starting from scratch.

☆ Jim Cramer says to wait before pulling the trigger on Mobileye
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

CNBC's Jim Cramer on Wednesday advised investors not to buy shares of Mobileye just yet. Shares of the self-driving car technology company jumped over 37% on Wednesday, its first day on the stock market after being spun out of Intel . The company will retain control of Mobileye, which traded publicly before Intel bought the firm in 2017. Fifty firms currently use Mobileye's technology across 800 vehicle models, according to the company's IPO filing. "In short, Mobileye's a real company with real products and, at the moment, tremendous demand for those products," Cramer said.

☆ Mobileye pops more than 30% in market debut after spinning out of Intel
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Mobileye shares popped more than 30% in their stock market debut on Wednesday after the maker of technology for self-driving cars was spun out of Intel . In a year that's seen no significant tech IPOs in the U.S., Mobileye offers investors an opportunity to get in on area of growth. At its IPO price of $21, Mobileye was valued at just $17 billion, resulting in minimal gains for Intel thus far. Intel will retain control of Mobileye and hold over 750 million shares of Class B stock, which has 10 times the voting power of Class A stock. Intel shares were down slightly on Wednesday and have lost about 47% of their value this year, while the Nasdaq is down 29%.

☆ America's cars and trucks are getting bigger, and so are their front blind zones. Children are paying the price.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Headshot_Small.Png | Adiel Kaplan | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +13 min

Front cameras could help prevent these deaths, safety experts say. On Monday, he announced legislation that would make front blind zone safety features mandatory for motor vehicles. After Congress passed a law to improve rear blind zone safety nearly 15 years ago, it took a decade — rulemaking, regulatory delays and a multiyear rollout — before it fully went into effect. Blumenthal’s bill directs regulators to determine what technology, such as cameras or sensors, to require to make front blind zones safer, much like the rear blind zone law did. But she believes the best way to prevent future tragedies is widespread use of blind zone cameras.

☆ Elon Musk said Tesla could be the biggest company in the world. He's also about to sell more shares
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Michael Ballaban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

On Wednesday evening’s earnings call, the Tesla CEO claimed that his company, a maker of niche luxury cars, would someday be worth more than Apple and Saudi Aramco. Tesla’s market value is $650 billion – down 7% after the company walked back a projection of 50% growth this year. Musk said the Tesla Model 3 would cost a mere $35,000, and it does not. Musk later apparently came off this idea, saying “robots are very bad at picking up fluff.”The point is, Elon Musk promises a lot of stuff. That does not exactly add up to a company that beats Apple and literally Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company.

HONG KONG, Oct 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Automakers are hitting China’s growth limit. The industry achieved four consecutive months of double-digit growth in September when deliveries reached 2.3 million, 33% higher than a year earlier, per the China Association of Auto Manufacturers. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterAs incentives expire, cars could follow a similar route to China’s commercial vehicles. Truck tales: A boom in China's sales of commercial vehicles proved to be short-livedBattery powered: China's strong EV sales mask slower deliveries of traditional motorsFollow @KatrinaHamlin on Twitter(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. CONTEXT NEWSChina's passenger car retail sales rose 33.2% in September from a year earlier to 2.3 million, according to data released by the China Association of Auto Manufacturers on Oct. 11.

☆ I run an 8-figure biscuit business that started as a side gig. Here's how I caught the attention of major distributors like Whole Foods and Costco.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Kimanzi Constable | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ayeshah Abuelhiga, 36, started selling biscuits in 2014 as a side hustle while consulting full time. A customer asked if she would consider selling frozen dough so they could bake the biscuits at home. The day after, I drove a big ice chest filled with frozen biscuits to the stall before work. Two hours later, I got a call from my chef asking whether we had more frozen biscuits at the off-site kitchen because we had sold out. The company turned over eight figures last year, and Target, Publix, Safeway, Costco, and Aldi all stock our frozen biscuits.

☆ Intel's Mobileye targets $15.9 billion valuation in IPO
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Kif Leswing | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Intel 's self-driving subsidiary, Mobileye, is targeting an IPO that would value it at nearly $16 billion. Mobileye shares will be traded on the Nasdaq. It will hold over 750 million shares of Class B stock which has 10 times the voting power of Class A stock. In total, Intel expects there to be 796.26 million shares of Mobileye outstanding that, if priced at $20 at the high end of the range, would give the self-driving division a valuation up to $15.9 billion. The filing shows strong revenue growth for Mobileye from $879 million in sales in 2019 to $1.39 billion last year.

☆ Tesla tops battery-electric vehicle registrations in Germany, beating Volkswagen
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Tesla (TSLA.O) topped registrations of battery-electric vehicles in Germany in the first nine months of this year at nearly 38,500, federal data showed, beating the Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) brand by around 6,000 vehicles. Tesla's battery-electric registrations jumped nearly 50% from the January-September period last year, while Volkswagen's dropped 40% to just over 32,300 in line with a broader drop across most of the Volkswagen Group brands in Europe's biggest car market. Only Audi and Seat saw an increase in the number of battery-electric cars registered in Germany among Volkswagen Group brands, the data from the federal motor transport authority showed. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterGlobally, Volkswagen Group saw total deliveries of its battery-electric vehicles rise 25% in January-September from a year earlier, figures released by the carmaker last week showed. Across all vehicle types - combustion engine, hybrid and battery-electric - deliveries of Volkswagen Group vehicles globally fell 12.9% this year, the carmaker reported last week, with Europe the hardest-hit region.

☆ Intel's Mobileye IPO eyes significantly lower valuation - report
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 17 (Reuters) - Intel Corp (INTC.O) is eyeing a valuation that is significantly lower than previously expected for the initial public offering of its self-driving car unit Mobileye, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Mobileye, which was originally expected to land a roughly $50 billion valuation, is now set to target one of under $20 billion and sell a smaller number of shares than originally planned, according to the report. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe lower valuation underscores the downturn in the market for new listings, with the tech IPO market facing its worst drought in nearly two decades. The self-driving car unit is also planning to launch its roadshow for prospective investors on Tuesday, a day later than anticipated, WSJ reported. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak DasguptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Search resuls for: "audi"

25 mentions found