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The number of Twitter mobile app downloads actually declined 18% in February to 14.05 million from 17.2 million in January. Meanwhile, Twitter had 14.9 million app downloads in April, which is a 2% increase from the 14.6 million downloads it accumulated in March. Musk's Twitter makeover has sparked new interest in decentralized social networks. Elon Musk's Twitter is facing new competition from a rival called Bluesky, a so-called decentralized communications app that is backed by Twitter co-founder and twice-former CEO, Jack Dorsey. The front-end apps built atop these decentralized platforms are often clunky, not professional-looking or easy to use.

☆ Jack Dorsey encouraged the student who tracks Elon Musk's jet to keep posting on Bluesky after his Twitter ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Jack Dorsey encouraged the college student who tracks Elon Musk's private jet to keep on posting. Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey has doubled down on his explicit and implicit criticism of Elon Musk, encouraging the college student who tracks Elon Musk's private jet to keep posting on rival apps Bluesky and Nostr. Dorsey, who has given money to both platforms and sits on Bluesky's board, got into a brief exchange on Bluesky with college student Jack Sweeney Saturday about the jet-tracking account. the college student asked Dorsey. Sweeney created the original @ElonJet account in 2020, using public flight data to monitor the whereabouts the of billionaire's private jet.

☆ No Bluesky invite? You're not alone: Biden can't get one either.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Jack Dorsey's latest social media venture, Bluesky, aims to compete with Twitter. The fledgling app is currently completing beta testing and has an extremely exclusive waitlist. The company says Biden and other heads of state are among those who can't yet create an account. Bluesky began beta testing and launched its waitlist, now nearly 2 million strong, just days after Elon Musk announced he had completed the purchase of Twitter for $44 billion. Dorsey and representatives for Bluesky did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ Short sellers haven't profited a lot from Hindenburg Research's salvo against Carl Icahn's investment firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Short sellers haven't profited significantly from Hindenburg Research's recent report against Icahn Enterprises. That's because Wall Street investors remain hesitant to place bets against the billionaire owner Carl Icahn, Bloomberg reported. Short sellers have made just $9 million in mark-to-market profit, per S3 Partners data. Hindenburg also alleged that the company is "using money taken in from new investors to pay out dividends to old investors." The short seller's report on Gautam Adani's company shaved tens of billions off of its market cap and dealt a huge blow to the billionaire's net worth.

☆ Activist investor Carl Icahn's wealth plunged by $10 billion after a short-seller accused his company of running a 'Ponzi-like' structure
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Hindenburg Research released a report alleging "Ponzi-like" economic structures at Icahn Enterprises. Shares of Icahn Enterprises closed 20% lower at $40.36 on Tuesday. Activist investor Carl Icahn's wealth plunged by $10 billion on Tuesday after Hindenburg Research — a short-seller that took on one of Asia's richest men earlier this year — targeted Icahn Enterprises with a scathing report. As Icahn derives his wealth from an 89% stake in Icahn Enterprises, his fortune was hit by the rout. Insider was unable to reach Icahn Enterprises via phone outside regular business hours.

☆ Meta is building an 'Instagram for your thoughts' that could take on Twitter competitor — and it could be a 'great opportunity'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta is building a decentralized text-based social network that will integrate with Instagram. It's no longer a secret that Meta is building out its own decentralized text-based social network. "We're exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates," a spokesperson for Meta told Insider in a statement when asked about the prototype. "It's a great opportunity for them to fill that void with Twitter going through such a transition." Meta's decentralized social network could very well face the same fate.

☆ Jack Dorsey went from being 'really happy' about Elon Musk joining Twitter's board to saying he shouldn't have bought it. Here's how their bromance has evolved.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Katie Canales | Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

One of Dorsey's first public bouts of praise for Musk was in 2016Francois Mori/APThe Twitter CEO said Musk's account on the social platform was one of his favorites. "He's constantly on Twitter, constantly talking about what [Tesla is] doing — and how he's feeling about it as well," Dorsey said at a trade show in 2016. "He's very open and using it to correct press and if people aren't focused on the right things. I think he's a really good model of how to use it well."

☆ Jack Dorsey criticizes Elon Musk’s leadership at Twitter: ‘It all went south’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter's former CEO Jack Dorsey openly criticized Elon Musk's leadership of the company in a series of social media posts Friday, writing that "it all went south" and Musk "should have walked away" from the acquisition. Users of Bluesky, a buzzy new social media platform that is being touted as a potential alternative to Twitter, prompted the discussion. They asked Dorsey if he believed Musk was the right leader for Twitter, to which Dorsey replied, "No." He added that he is glad new social media platforms like Bluesky are being built. In a tweet from April 2022, Dorsey said he trusted Musk's "mission to extend the light of consciousness" through the platform.

☆ Jack Dorsey once called Elon Musk the 'singular solution' for taking Twitter private. Now, the app's co-founder says Musk never should have bought it: 'I think he should have walked away'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Jack Dorsey last year called Elon Musk the "singular solution I trust" to take Twitter private. "I think he should have walked away," Dorsey wrote of Musk. Elon Musk is no longer the singular solution Jack Dorsey trusts to run Twitter. Nor do I think he acted right after realizing his timing was bad," Dorsey wrote of Musk. It wants to be a public good at a protocol level, not a company," Dorsey wrote.

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Amazon Slack, industry extinction, and top EVs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Community: Inside Amazon's little-known Slack channel. And that's playing out inside an internal slack channel called #focus-and-pivot-info for employees put on performance improvement plans — also known as PIPs. Go behind-the-scenes of Amazon's little-known Slack channel here. Right as tech companies shrink their headcounts, AI is gaining popularity in the workplace, writes Insider's editor in chief for business, Matt Turner. Thousands of anonymous tech employees fretted over the future of tech compensation.

☆ Meta is working on its own Twitter-like social network. Here's why an 'Instagram for your thoughts' could win as competitors multiply.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta is building a decentralized text-based social network that will integrate with Instagram. It's no longer a secret that Meta is building out its own decentralized text-based social network. "We're exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates," a spokesperson for Meta told Insider in a statement when asked about the prototype. "It's a better idea than a lot of other things that have come out of Meta recently," Morgan added. Meta's decentralized social network could very well face the same fate.

☆ San Francisco's DA called out Elon Musk for his 'reckless and irresponsible' tweet about Bob Lee's death
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Sarah Jackson | Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

San Francisco's DA is calling out Elon Musk for a tweet he made about Bob Lee's death. San Francisco's district attorney says Elon Musk made a "reckless and irresponsible" statement over the recent death of tech executive Bob Lee. She also addressed a tweet from Elon Musk over Lee's death. Many people I know have been severely assaulted," Musk had tweeted about Lee's death last week. Jack Dorsey, who cofounded Twitter, said Lee's death was "heartbreaking."

☆ Suspect arrested in stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee -media
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 13 (Reuters) - San Francisco police arrested a man on Thursday morning in connection with the fatal stabbing of Bob Lee, according to local media reports, just over a week after the tech executive succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for further information. Lee, who founded Block Inc-owned (SQ.N) Cash App, is believed to have known the suspect. The two reportedly were driving in downtown San Francisco in Momeni's car when an alleged confrontation led to Lee's April 4 stabbing. The San Francisco Chronicle also reported news of an arrest, citing San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin and other city officials, without disclosing a name.

☆ KBW downgrades this payments stock with 'small risks starting to add up'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

A growing list of headwinds is beginning to signal worry for Jack Dorsey's Block , according to KBW. The firm downgraded Block to market perform from outperform, citing pressure from small risks that are piling up. KBW also lowered its price target on Block shares to $75 per share from $90. "We think SQ's risk/reward profile has become less attractive as multiple risks are starting to add up," KBW's Steven Kwok wrote. "This could pressure volume growth, take rates, and ultimately profitability," Kwok said.

☆ The next threat to Airbnb: Superhosts want to leave the platform and take their listings with them
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Hosts want to cut out the middle manTop hosts have spoken out recently about their desire to leave the platform. In December, influencer couple Sara and Tony Robinson told Insider they were planning to "quit" Airbnb and funnel their $1.3 million portfolio into direct bookings. (The couple would still leave a few of their 22 listings on the platform, they said.) Alaska resident Amie Somer echoed the Robinsons in her insistence on using direct bookings for her $1 million Arizona home, where she landed $50,000 in bookings in her first year. "I don't want all my eggs in one basket," she told Insider.

☆ Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and other tech execs respond to the fatal stabbing of Cash App creator Bob Lee: 'Violent crime in SF is horrific'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Grace Kay | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Bob Lee's peers and industry leaders wrote social media posts mourning the Cash App creator. At the company, the executive created Cash App, a mobile payment platform. YCombinator CEO Garry Tan called Lee's death a "huge loss for the tech community and for San Francisco." "We do not tolerate these horrific acts of violence in San Francisco," she tweeted. —Brooke Jenkins 謝安宜 (@BrookeJenkinsSF) April 5, 2023The San Francisco police department must conclude its investigation before the DA's office can step in, Randy Quezada, communications director at the San Francisco District Attorney's office, told Insider.

☆ It's becoming increasingly clear that fintech has a fraud problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Bianca Chan | Paige Hagy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

"With fast growth comes fast fraud," Frank McKenna, a longtime fraud expert who works with banks, lenders, and fintechs, told Insider. Cash App only requires a zip code, debit-card number, and either an email or phone number to create an account. Cash App's alleged fraud problem could also be the result of its large, active customer base, which numbers some 44 million, according to the company's 2022 annual report. The fact that Cash App offers peer-to-peer payments exacerbates the fraud issue, according to McKenna, the chief fraud strategist at Point Predictive, an anti-fraud software company. Digital-only bank Chime has had its own issues with fraud, Jason Mikula, a fintech analyst and consultant, told Insider.

☆ How this 26-year-old went from running bitcoin trading desks in Taco Bells to creating the largest crypto exchange in Africa
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +28 min

Yellow Card CEO Chris Maurice just before meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Accra, Ghana. Chris MauriceFrom there, Yellow Card users can send or receive digital cash in eligible markets. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Yellow Card CEO Chris Maurice in Accra, Ghana loading cash onto his Mobile Money account, MoMo. Yellow Card has facilitated $1.75 billion in transactions since launching in 2019 and has about 220 employees – mostly in Africa. A resident checks his phone outside a mobile money kiosk in the Kibera district of Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2022.

☆ Block shares extend losses as Hindenburg report weighs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The logo of Cash App is seen at the main hall during the Bitcoin Conference 2022 in Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. April 6, 2022. REUTERS/Marco Bello/File PhotoMarch 24 (Reuters) - Shares of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's Block Inc (SQ.N) fell 4% in premarket trading on Friday, a day after the payments firm's Cash App business became the latest target of U.S. short seller Hindenburg Research. In a report, Hindenburg has alleged that Block overstated its user numbers and understated its customer acquisition costs. Block shares closed 15% lower on Thursday, giving up all the gains made so far this year. The report cited a non-profit organization to say that Cash App was also "by far" the top app used in reported U.S. sex trafficking.

☆ Things are pretty grim in real estate, but that could be a good thing for proptech startups in the long run
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Today, we've got stories on Deutsche Bank's tumbling shares, some bad news for Block, and why Gen Z might be in trouble. Of the many casualties of 2022, startups focusing on the real-estate market were some of the biggest. As the real-estate market dried up, thanks to rising interest rates, these companies that were meant to upend the industry through tech and innovation suddenly took a backseat. And while current conditions aren't ideal for proptech startups, that could actually benefit them in the long run. Click here to check out 26 of the hottest proptech startups set to take off in 2023.

☆ Hindenburg targets Block, erasing more than $6.5 billion in market cap
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailHindenburg targets Block, erasing more than $6.5 billion in market capCNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos reports on the market reaction to Hindenburg's latest report, this time targeting Jack Dorsey's Block.

☆ Short-seller Hindenburg's assertions about Block seem 'deliberately overstated,' analyst says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailShort-seller Hindenburg's assertions about Block seem 'deliberately overstated,' analyst saysLisa Ellis of MoffettNathanson discusses Hindenburg's short position on Jack Dorsey's payments firm Block and says it's "cherry-picking what I would argue is very likely a very small issue."

☆ Short-seller Hindenburg's report on Block: We're not seeing anything illegal, investment firm says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailShort-seller Hindenburg's report on Block: We're not seeing anything illegal, investment firm saysMoshe Katri of Wedbush Securities discusses short-seller Hindenburg's short position on Jack Dorsey's payments firm Block and says it's a "legitimate player in the space."

☆ Twitter founder Jack Dorsey's net worth dropped by more than $500 million after US short seller Hindenburg targeted his payments company Block
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Jack Dorsey's wealth tumbled after Hindenburg Research targeted his payments company Block, per Bloomberg. The short seller alleged Block misled investors "with inflated metrics"Block's share price tumbled as much as 22% on Thursday on Hindenburg's report. Block's share price tumbled as much as 22% on Hindenburg's report before closing 15% lower at $61.88 apiece on Thursday. It said Hindenburg's attacks are designed "solely to allow short sellers to profit from a declined stock price." In 2020, Hindenberg accused electric truck maker Nikola of fraud, which also sent its share price slumping.

☆ Hindenburg takes aim at Dorsey's payments firm Block, shares plunge
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Manya Saini | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Block shares fell as much as 22% before paring losses and were last down 14% at $62.61 in afternoon trading. After reviewing the full report, Block said it was "designed to deceive and confuse investors". Hindenburg said that Block "obfuscates" how many individuals are on the Cash App platform by reporting misleading "transacting active" metrics filled with fake and duplicate accounts. The app had 51 million monthly transacting actives, a 16% year-over-year increase during December 2022, Block said in fourth-quarter earnings letter. "What I am really concerned about is the Cash App, accusations of fraud, multiple accounts, opening accounts and fake names.

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