DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Meet the harbor pilots who make $434,000 a year, face high fatality rates, and are responsible for guiding hulking cargo ships into ports
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Harbor pilots are the highest paid city employees, but face a one in 20 chance of dying on the job. Harbor pilots are some of the highest-paid municipal employees and represent a crucial part of a shipment's journey. "I've been chased up the ladder by the boat," Craig Flinn, another harbor pilot, tells Mims. A harbor pilot's job is complete once the ship is safely tucked away in its berth. Ultimately, harbor pilots represent a little known, but crucial part of the supply-chain.

☆ Hundreds of people are applying for a chance to work at Elon Musk's 'hardcore' Twitter 2.0 — even after the billionaire laid off half the company's workforce
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Hundreds of people have applied to Twitter job postings on LinkedIn. Musk laid off about 50% of Twitter's workforce in November and has asked remaining staff to work "hardcore." Just last month, Elon Musk laid off thousands — about half of the company's workforce — and over 2,000 more employees quit. The new job postings come only a few weeks after thousands of employees left the company. Twitter employees might also be able to benefit from stock in the company.

☆ Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet is reportedly raising prices in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

SpaceX is increasing its prices for Starlink, according to a Financial Times report. The cost of Starlink terminals in Ukraine has nearly doubled over the past year, per FT. Similarly, the cost for the Starlink terminals will rise about $200 per device, from $500 to $700, FT reported. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk first sent Starlink terminals to Ukraine in February, within days of Russia's attack on the nation. In October, SpaceX told the Pentagon it could not continue to pay for Starlink in Ukraine, according to a report from CNN.

☆ Elon Musk slams Tesla founder Martin Eberhard in response to a tweet about the company's origin: he 'could have risked his money, but was unwilling to do so'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Eberhard told Insider Musk's comments on Tesla's history were "typical" of the billionaire. "Not one sentence of that tweet is true," Eberhard told Insider. In 2009, Eberhard sued Musk, alleging libel and slander because Musk started calling himself Tesla's founder. "I was thinking that I should do what every guy does and buy a sports car," Eberhard told Insider in 2014. Eberhard told Baer it was the first time he butted heads with Musk.

☆ Elon Musk slams Tesla founder Martin Eberhard in response to a tweet about the company's origin: He 'could have risked his money, but was unwilling to do so'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Eberhard once sued Musk, alleging libel because Musk said he's a Tesla founder. Eberhard told Insider that Musk's comments on Tesla's history were "typical" of the billionaire. "Not one sentence of that tweet is true," Eberhard told Insider. In 2009, Eberhard sued Musk, alleging libel and slander because Musk started calling himself Tesla's founder. "I was thinking that I should do what every guy does and buy a sports car," Eberhard told Insider in 2014.

☆ Read the internal Tesla employee survey from 2018, where employees called Elon Musk an 'unapproachable tyrant' who fires people 'because of his ego'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Tesla employees complained about Elon Musk's leadership and culture in a 2018 survey obtained by Insider. The survey flagged compensation, "Elon and exec team," and "care about the company's employees" as high risk areas. In her email, Toledano identified two key issues employees said they were facing: concerns over compensation and concerns about leadership at Tesla, particularly around Elon Musk. A screenshot from Tesla's 2018 employee survey, showing favorability responses from Tesla professionals, managers, executives, and directors. Read the full survey:Do you work at Tesla or for Elon Musk?

☆ Elon Musk has been preaching the value of 'hardcore' work to employees for over a decade, early Tesla emails show
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk is mirroring his Tesla management style at Twitter. The CEO has told Tesla employees to "go super hardcore" and "ultra hardcore" in the past. Last week, the billionaire gave Twitter employees an ultimatum: commit to working "extremely hardcore" or resign. While the note spurred a mass exodus of Twitter staffers, it was a move that is all too familiar to Tesla employees. Musk's more utilitarian leadership style style represents a sharp departure from that of Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal.

☆ Elon Musk is 'outside his depth' at Twitter and his 'bullying management culture' won't fix it, early SpaceX investor says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Early SpaceX investor Chris Kelly said Elon Musk's "bullying management culture" won't work at Twitter. Kelly said on Saturday that Musk is "outside his depth" at Twitter and his actions don't "bode well." Since buying Twitter, Musk has laid of half of its workforce and issued an ultimatum to remaining staff. Kelly said he's "mostly an Elon fan," but added he was "surprised" by Musk's recent actions at Twitter. "The massive cutbacks and chainsaw that Elon Musk has taken to the company does not bode well for its future."

☆ Elon Musk's righthand man at Tesla has reportedly joined SpaceX after the electric-car maker launched an investigation into the top lieutenant
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk has brought in Omead Afshar to help lead Starship production, Bloomberg reported. In July, Tesla was reportedly investigating Musk's righthand man after he authorized the purchase of construction materials that the system flagged as items that could be for Elon Musk's personal use. At the time, Tesla had already terminated several employees as a result of the investigation and Bloomberg reported Afshar was likely to leave the company next. Though, David Searle — the legal chief that was reportedly investigating Afshar — left the company in August, Bloomberg reported. Do you work at Tesla, SpaceX, or have insight to share?

Meta said Wednesday it plans to lay off more than 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce. Meta had 87,314 employees on September 30, 2022, according to its third-quarter earnings report. Such a move has been expected by employees for months, as Insider previously reported. FacebookZuckerberg said that affected US employees would get 16 weeks of severance plus an extra two weeks for every year of service. Affected employees would also still get their restricted stock unit vesting on November 15, he said.

☆ I'm one of 11,000 people Meta just laid off. It was an incredibly emotional experience, but I felt Mark Zuckerberg handled it with humanity.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

On Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to lay off 13% of the company's workforce. This felt different than other layoffs I'd been throughMark announced the layoffs in a memo this morning on our internal employee page. Everyone felt like it felt like the last day; people said it was very depressing. At Meta, I felt like it was done really delicately and intentionally, with humanity intact and with respect for everyone. We hired some really great positions, and to just get fired as soon as things don't work out is pretty emotional, you know?

☆ The Twitter manager who went viral for sleeping on the floor of company HQ survived Elon Musk's layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The manager who went viral for sleeping at Twitter's headquarters survived Elon Musk's layoffs, sources told Insider. Last week, a Twitter employee posted a photo of Esther Crawford in a sleeping bag at the office. Previously, the company had offered Twitter Blue for $2.99 per month as a service that would allow users to access special features like editing tweets or reducing ads. "The Twitter team is legendary. The Information reported last week that the manager "appears to be rising in prominence" at Twitter since Musk completed his purchase.

☆ Elon Musk has been taking digs at AOC and cracking jokes while thousands of Twitter employees grappled with looming layoffs and sent each other well-wishes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk started fights with celebrities and cracked jokes as thousands of Twitter staff waited for layoff notices. Twitter employees shared heartfelt farewells on Slack and across social media over the past few days. Twitter employees have received zero communication from Musk since he took over the company. After a week of zero communication with Twitter employees from leadership following Musk's takeover, staff received a memo on Thursday confirming that layoffs would commence on Friday. Meanwhile, Twitter staff was flooding the company's Slack channels with heart emojis and salutes, tech newsletter writer Casey Newton reported.

☆ Read the blunt Twitter email telling employees that their jobs are axed
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Read the blunt email that notified one Twitter employee they had been laid off. Shortly after the report, Twitter sent a memo to its employees confirming the plans for layoffs and announcing its offices were temporarily closed. It was the first communication from the company that Twitter employees had received since Elon Musk took over last week. Read one of the notes sent to an employee, which Insider obtained, below: It's titled "Your Role at Twitter." Are you a Twitter employee?

☆ Meta employees proposed marketing its $399 virtual-reality headsets to people who will get student debt relief, a report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Meta workers considered advertising VR headsets to federal student debt relief recipients. Three employees said the ad proposal could boost sales by 20%, The New York Times reported. The Times reported that it did not look like Meta had implemented the idea. What's more, even some Meta employees appear disillusioned with Zuckerberg's plans. Meanwhile, Insider's Kali Hays previously reported Meta was conducting "quiet layoffs" that could impact as much as 15% of the company's workforce.

Elon Musk could be facing up to $100 million in personal legal fees after renewing his offer to buy Twitter. Both Twitter and Musk employed over 50 lawyers in the months leading up to the trial. A lot of the cost, of course, is going straight to the lawyers and major firms Musk and Twitter employed. He added that hourly billing is unlikely to be how Musk and Twitter were solely charged in this case. Are you legal professional involved in Musk vs. Twitter or someone with insight to share?

☆ Elon Musk's trove of private text messages is a bad look for him — and another win for Twitter, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-30 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Hundreds of Elon Musk's texts could work against him in his court battle with Twitter, experts say. The messages appear to show Musk was aware of issues with bots ahead of offering to buy the company. The hundreds of texts between Musk and some of Silicon Valley's most powerful players offer fresh insight into Musk's plans for Twitter. But Musk's private texts appear to tell a story that is "in tension with his lead argument," Schettenhelm told Insider. "Purging fake users will make the numbers look terrible, so restructuring should be done as a private company," he texted Taylor, according to the cache of documents released Thursday.

☆ Elon Musk's own data scientists couldn't find many bots on Twitter, and he hid that crucial information, the company says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Grace Kay | Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The firm Cyabra told Musk it estimated Twitter to possibly have 11% bots or fake accounts. That's very different from Musk's estimates. "None of these analyses remotely supported what Mr. Musk told the Twitter parties and told the world in the termination letter he served up on July 8." Musk claims this amounts to fraud and allows him to walk away from the acquisition cost-free. Legal experts are unconvinced that any of Musk's claims are strong enough to win this case.

☆ A Tesla owner says he was locked out of his electric car after the battery died — an issue that he says would cost over $20,000 to fix
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Last year, a Finnish Tesla owner blew up his EV to protest a similar issue. Last week, Mario Zelaya posted a TikTok video calling out the issue and it received over 15 million views. In an earlier video, the Toronto-based Tesla owner posted images of a service estimate from Tesla dated March 14. The estimate showed that a replacement battery for the electric car would cost over $28,000 in Canadian dollars or more than $21,000 US dollars. Last year, a man from Finland filmed a video of himself blowing up his 2013 Tesla Model S after he discovered a replacement battery would cost $22,600.

☆ Meta is reportedly putting some workers onto a '30-day list' that gives them a month to find a new role at the company — or leave
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta reportedly puts some workers on a "30-day list" that leaves them a month to find a new role at the company. In July, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company plans to shrink several teams over the next year. Many teams are going to shrink so we can shift energy to other areas inside the company," Zuckerberg said during the company's quarterly earnings call in July. Last week, the tech company gave dozens of employees a 90-day window to find a new role or leave Google, the publication reported, citing sources familiar with the issue. Have you experienced the 30-day list?

☆ Tesla's gigafactory is reportedly warning employees about smoke exposure amid the Mosquito Fire and changing air filters, but work continues
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tesla sent a memo to workers at its Nevada gigafactory regarding the Mosquito Fire, CNBC reports. But, smoke has filled Nevada towns, including Sparks, Nevada — the location of the Tesla gigafactory that employs thousands of workers. On Thursday and Friday, air quality in the area was rated between "unhealthy" to "very unhealthy." On Wednesday, public school officials closed several campuses in Reno and Sparks, Nevada over the hazardous air quality. But, Tesla workers at the Nevada gigafactory might not have a choice when it comes to remote work options.

☆ Elon Musk takes another loss in Twitter battle as his request to delay trial is denied — but judge says he can add whistleblower allegations to his suit
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-07 | by ( Grace Kay | Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Twitter has already seen negative effects on its business during the case so far, the judge said. Musk's team cannot do any kind of extensive additional discovery that will delay the case, with the judge only allowing "incremental" and "targeted" requests for more document production from Twitter. She rejected the billionaire's request to delay the trial, his second attempt to do so, reiterating that any further delay poses an outsized risk to Twitter as a business. "I am convinced that even four weeks' delay would risk further harm to Twitter too great to justify." While Zatko's whistleblower claims mainly revolve around security issues at Twitter, Musk seized on them to prove his allegations of fraud.

☆ Elon Musk cited a Putin speech in private texts with a banker saying the Twitter deal wouldn't make sense 'if we're heading into World War 3'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-06 | by ( Grace Kay | Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk in a private text said it might not "make sense" to buy Twitter amid the war in Ukraine. A Twitter lawyer on Tuesday argued texts showed Musk was motivated by concern over his finances. The text messages were sent May 8 to a banker at Morgan Stanley, which is financing part of Musk's deal. It won't make sense to buy Twitter if we're heading into World War 3." Musk signed an agreement in April to buy Twitter and take it private.

☆ Elon Musk reportedly issued an ultimatum to Tesla staff: return to the office or quit
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-01 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk reportedly told Tesla's executive staff to return to the office or resign. Elon Musk issued an ultimatum to Tesla's executive staff on Tuesday, calling for the workers to come into the office and stop "phoning it in" or quit, according to reports. Musk reportedly said in one of the emails that if staff continue to work remotely, he will assume that they have resigned. Musk titled his first email "remote work is no longer acceptble (sic)" and appeared to address it only to a listserv for executive staff, according to Electrek. "The more senior your are, the more visible must be your presence," Musk wrote, according to Electrek.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Samuel Nissim, Nissim, —, Tesla, Insider's Isobel Asher Hamilton, Brian Chesky, gkay Organizations: Morning, Twitter, Electrek, Washington Post, SpaceX, Financial Times, Bloomberg Locations: Shanghai

☆ See inside a 958-foot cargo ship, from the crew's living quarters to the massive engine room
▼ + stars: | 2021-12-23 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Second mate Bryan Boyle said workers celebrate hoidays on board with festive meals and community. In the video, second mate Bryan Boyle records the vast array of machinery that keeps the ship moving, as well as the crew's and officers' living quarters on the Maersk ship, which was built in 2006. Courtesy of Bryan BoyleThe video shows Boyle's living quarters, as well as a movie locker that holds hundreds of titles. Courtesy of Bryan BoyleThe ship has a massive gyrocompass that helps guide its course. Courtesy of Bryan BoyleThe video captures the engine room and the combustion engine that helps power a giant propeller.

Search resuls for: "gkay"

25 mentions found