Twitter pauses paid blue-tick launch for US midterms November 8, 2022 Twitter confirmed that it would be delaying the rollout of its paid-for verification until after the US midterm elections, temporarily abating fears about fake account misinformation campaigns. As the new social media chief, Elon Musk has laid out plans to allow users to purchase blue-tick verification for their profiles – a privilege that is usually [...]
Twitter lay-offs begin as Elon Musk warns of ‘massive drop’ in revenues November 5, 2022 Elon Musk has begun laying off thousands of Twitter workers after warning the social media company is losing more than $4m a day due to a “massive drop” in advertising revenues. The tech billionaire began pushing forwards with plans to lay off around half of Twitter’s 7,500 staff, just more than a week after completing [...]
Elon Musk abandons Hyperloop project months after ramping up testing November 3, 2022 Elon Musk has reportedly abandoned his futuristic high-speed transportation project Hyperloop just six months after announcing plans to begin “full-scale” testing. Hyperloop has been ‘indefinitely shelved’, according to Bloomberg today. The eccentric billionaire’s $44bn takeover of social media giant Twitter finalised last week, making him the ‘Chief Twit’ of yet another technology heavyweight. The ambitious [...]
Twitter plans to charge users $20 for blue tick verification as Musk pushes for revenue growth October 31, 2022 Elon Musk is reportedly gearing up to introduce paid verification on Twitter in a bid to drive up revenue. According to initial reports from The Verge, Twitter is currently planning to charge $19.99 for the new Twitter Blue subscription, adding to the current optional premium offering it has. According to insiders and internal correspondence seen [...]
Twitter C-suite overhaul, job cuts and a content council: Elon Musk’s first moves as new owner October 30, 2022 Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk has reportedly fired a string of top executives “for cause”, in a bid to avoid paying out lofty severance packages after finally completing a $44bn takeover. The weekend layoffs included Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde, Reuters reported, [...]
Musk mulls ring-fencing Twitter ‘beef’ with different ‘versions’ of site October 29, 2022 Elon Musk has suggested that Twitter could be split up into maturity-rated content streams to ring-fence harmful and extreme posts, as the debate over moderation of material on the site rages on.
Elon Musk’s $44bn Twitter takeover to close on Friday October 25, 2022 Elon Musk’s contested $44bn bid for Twitter could reportedly close as soon as Friday. Musk, currently the world’s richest man, is reported to have promised bankers on a video call that the deal would be wrapped up before the end of the week, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Equity investors, including Sequoia [...]
Rumour mill: Musk takeover spells mass job cuts for Twitter staff October 21, 2022 Elon Musk has told prospective investors that he plans to axe nearly 75 per cent of Twitter’s staff, as the billionaire continues to push forward with a takeover deal. According to reports from the Washington Post, although HR teams have reassured employees that mass layoffs were not coming any time soon, documents showed that plans [...]
Shareholders launch campaign to tie Elon Musk’s salary to Tesla’s ESG October 20, 2022 Shareholders, spearheaded by activist investor Tulipshare, have launched a campaign to tie Elon Musk’s salary to Tesla’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. The announcement comes months after the electric vehicle (EV) powerhouse was booted from S&P’s ESG index. According to Tulipshare, tying the chief executive’s salary to ESG would ensure the company improves its [...]
Musk’s Twitter u-turn is the beginning rather than the end October 5, 2022 When news broke that Elon Musk would be moving ahead with his original $44bn takeover of Twitter, it felt like the beginning of a saga rather than the end of it. While the Tesla chief told his 107m followers that the purchase would be an “accelerant” towards his vision of an “everything app”, Musk’s lawyers [...]