Business, Financial & Legal - Page 39

After attempting to get the trial moved to Texas, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has defended his controversial tweet that dates back to 2018.

Tesla shareholders have filed a lawsuit against Musk for any damages caused by Musk's 2018 tweet, where he announced that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 and that funding was secured. This tweet caused Tesla share prices to become volatile for a period of time, with the price immediately rising substantially and then recorrecting when nothing came of it. Musk is now being taken to court by Tesla shareholders and took the stand on Friday to defend his tweet.

According to the Tesla CEO, the tweet wasn't simply a gag or a joke as Musk claims Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia's Private Investment Fund, "verbally" backed the transaction. Additionally, Musk said that Al-Rumayyan spoke to then-Tesla Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sam Teller that he had Saudi investors that were "committed" to the plan of taking Tesla private. Furthermore, Musk said that Al-Rumayyan stated "they would do whatever it took to get it done" and that they were "unequivocal" about backing the deal.

A Google engineer that began working at the company in 2003 has described his firing as a "slap in the face" after he discovered an email informing him he was laid off.

The now-former Google engineer is named Jeremy Joslin, who took to Twitter last Friday to announce that he had been informed of his firing via an unexpected email and that it's hard for him to believe that he was laid off via email after spending 20 years at the company. Notably, Joslin says that he isn't sure what kind of criteria Google used to determine who got laid off and who didn't, but before his firing, he said he never had the sense that his job was in jeopardy.

Joslin took to his LinkedIn profile to write, "I never thought it would happen like this". Joslin's firing came after Google announced it was laying off 12,000 employees, or approximately 6% of its global workforce. These layoffs were announced on Friday and covered many areas of Alphabet's empire, Google's parent company. According to Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the layoffs will be "across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions," and that the reason behind them is the company hired too many people far too quickly, leading to it being an "economic reality" that some had to go.

Former United States President Donald Trump has asked Meta to reinstate his Facebook account as he prepares to ramp up his 2024 presidential campaign.

NBC News has reported it has reviewed a copy of a letter sent to Meta by Trump's campaign that urged Meta to reconsider its decision to ban Trump's account following the January 6 insurrection. Trump's campaign didn't announce a lawsuit against the company but instead explained it believes that the ban on Trump's Facebook account has "dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse". Additionally, Trump's team called for a meeting to be organized with meta to "discuss President Trump's prompt reinstatement to the platform."

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on the matter besides saying the company "will announce a decision in the coming weeks in line with the process we laid out." For those that don't remember, both Facebook and Twitter banned Trump from their platforms the day after the January 6 insurrection, with Facebook banning the former president over inciting violence and breaking the platform's terms of service. Notably, Facebook's ban was only a provisional suspension and would come up for review after two years - starting January 7, 2023, hence the recent letter from Trump's team.

The BBC has come out and publicly apologized for accidentally playing pornographic sounds while conducting its live coverage of the FA Cup football match. The publication says it was the victim of a prank.

The prank involved a mobile phone playing pornographic sounds loudly over the air while host Gary Lineker was chatting about the game. In the above video, you can see the pranksters communicating with what seems like to be an inside man that stuck the mobile phone to the back of the set. While the host is chatting away, the prankster proceeds to call the phone at the set, engaging its ringtone, which was pornographic sounds. The phone was called multiple times, and each time it was clearly heard over the broadcast.

Notably, the prank occurred just before kick-off in the third-round replay fixture between the Wolves and Liverpool. As the sounds started to be heard, Lineker looked somewhat startled by what he was hearing, resulting in him looking around briefly and continuing with what he was saying. As the sounds continued, the host tried not to laugh at what he was hearing, eventually saying he thinks someone is sending something to someone's phone and that he doesn't know if the sounds were heard by viewers at home.

Elon Musk acquired Twitter back in late October for a hefty $44 billion, and now the SpaceX and Tesla CEO is facing his first bill that is said to be due at the end of the month.

Musk received financing for the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter through several banks such as Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Barclays, and Mitsubishi. Now, the first installment of interest payments related to the $13 billion of debt Musk used to complete his takeover is about to be due, with reports stating that the Tesla CEO will need to pay $1.5 billion in annual interest payments. Notably, this $13 billion in debt acquired from the aforementioned banks is held by Twitter, not Musk personally.

However, Musk made a personal investment in Twitter, with Musk's equity in the company amounting to $26 billion. In the event of Twitter declaring bankruptcy, Musk's $26 billion position will be completely wiped out. Since the SpaceX CEO took over the company, he has been rushing to stop Twitter from hemorrhaging money, with the new CEO proceeding to cut costs wherever he can. More than half of the staff that was at Twitter prior to Musk's takeover have been fired, and the entire company has experienced a complete reshuffling.

Since Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter, the world's second-largest social media platform, has taken a hit in terms of advertising spending, with many previously big advertisers cutting their spending or stopping it altogether.

Elon Musk took the reins at Twitter in late October last year, and since then, the Tesla CEO has been moving fast and breaking something along the way. This strategy by Musk has pushed out the release of several new features on Twitter, such as Twitter Blue, but with fast development comes problems that need to be fixed.

One main problem is the loss of major advertisers that Twitter counts on for revenue. Notably, GroupM, the world's largest ad-buying company, has cut its spending on Twitter by anywhere between 40% and 50%, leading Twitter executives to become more and more desperate for fresh advertising revenue.

Elon Musk has taken to his Twitter account to propose a fix for 'left-wing' and 'right-wing' echo chambers on Twitter in the form of a new feature.

The SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter CEO took to his personal Twitter account to reply to an individual that claimed Twitter is showing or more actively promoting more 'right-wing' views to timelines. Musk said that people on the 'right' of the political sphere should be shown more 'left-wing stuff,' and the people on the left should see more 'right-wing stuff'.

Musk goes on and says that users "can just block it" if they want to stay in an "echo chamber", which is when a group of people form and echo the same opinions on topics while also dismissing any new information that goes against their already formed narrative. Notably, these tweets from Musk come after the SpaceX CEO updated his Twitter bio to 'state-affiliated media' following his statements that media accounts should have a 'state-affiliated media' label like China Global Television Network's account.

Elon Musk's upcoming civil trial will take place in San Francisco after a judge denied Musk's request to move it to Texas.

A new report from Bloomberg states that a federal judge has denied the request from Elon Musk's legal team to move the billionaire's upcoming civil trial to Texas on the grounds that a "substantial portion" of the jury pool is likely to hold a bias towards Musk due to the ongoing layoffs at the newly acquired Twitter.

The class action lawsuit accuses Musk of manipulating Tesla stock with his infamous 2018 tweet where he wrote that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private, resulting in Tesla's stock price increasing dramatically and then eventually recorrecting in the same fashion.

We're one step closer to a Futurama-style world where courtrooms will be populated by humanoid defendants with robot lawyers pleading their case to either a robot or alien judge. Welcome to the age of AI legal assistance.

Legal advice startup DoNotPay is reporting that AI will be helping two defendants dispute speeding tickets. The AI legal assistants will communicate to the defendants via an earpiece to let them know what to say and when. One case will be litigated over zoom with the other in an actual courtroom.

DoNotPay describes its app as "the world's first robot lawyer" with lofty claims that it can help you fight corporations, beat bureaucracy, and sue anyone. Because, sure, why not. It's worth noting that there's a disclaimer stating, "DoNotPay is not a law firm and is not licensed to practice law." Which sounds like a smart legal move for the firm and app.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and one of the world's richest individuals, has responded to the skepticism around his motivation to buy up large portions of farmland across the United States.

Gates, being very well known for his creation of Microsoft, is now earning himself new titles, such as the biggest private landowner in the US, according to the 2022 edition of the Land Report 100. Notably, the report found that Gates owns about 275,000 acres of farmland across the US. Additionally, the US Department of Agriculture found in a 2022 report there were about 895.3 million acres of farmland throughout the US in 2021.

The Microsoft founder was asked in his annual Reddit AMA why he is purchasing so much farmland and if he thinks it's a problem that billionaire wealth enables them to acquire disproportionally. Gates responded to the question and said he owns less than 1/4000 of the total farmland in the US and that his investment in them is founded on the motivation to make them more productive. Gates added that there "isn't a grand scheme involved" and that all of the investments are being handled by a professional investment team.

Elon Musk has broken the world record for the largest loss of personal fortune in history, according to Guinness World Records.

The renowned world record authority took to its website to announce Musk has lost approximately $182 billion since November 2021, with the report citing an estimate by Forbes, which seemed to have provided a lower estimate of Musk's total loss as Bloomberg reports it could be as much as $200 billion. From Bloomberg's estimation, it would mean Musk lost 57% between November 2021 and now, which would mean his net worth high dropped from its high of $320 billion in November to $138 billion by this month.

Notably, Guinness states that the exact figure would be impossible to ascertain due to constant market fluctuation. Regardless of specifics, Musk has broken the previous world record for most personal loss, which was set by Korean-Japanese tech investor and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son in 2000 at $58.6 billion. Musk took a major hit to his net worth through 2022 when Tesla stock, what the majority of his wealth is tied up in, dropped by 65%.

U.S. President Joe Biden has published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal asking Democrats and Republicans on both sides of the aisle to join forces and "unite against Big Tech." A list that includes Apple, Google, Microsoft, and all the other giants in tech.

The piece's primary concern is privacy and how the industry at large collects, shares, and exploits personal data. Not only in terms of targeted advertising and the fact that children are exposed to that, but how it has been used to "deepen extremism and polarization in our country, tilt our economy's playing field, violate the civil rights of women and minorities, and even put our children at risk."

The piece is a call to action for Democrats and Republicans, pointing to the need for strong legislation "to hold Big Tech accountable." The article doesn't name-check any companies; it's the sort of diplomatic write-up we don't usually see on the internet. It begins with a shoutout to Big Tech, praising American companies in the field as "the most innovative in the world." President Biden added, "I'm proud of what it has accomplished and of the many talented, committed people who work in this industry every day."

Facebook is well known for its extreme expenditure, typically in its research and development department for virtual reality. However, there are other areas in which the company invests its money.

According to a recent report by The New York Times, Facebook attempted to build a railroad that never got finished, costing the company a whopping $20 million and creating a disappointed community. The report states that Facebook wasn't in the project by itself, which was to convert the abandoned Dumbarton Rail Bridge into a commute to assist the expanding area and mitigate congestion on the public transport systems.

Notably, the social media company reached out to community officials with a proposal for the project back in 2017, with Elliot Schrage, Facebook's former vice president of communications and public policy, saying to NYT that the company felt it needed to not only be stewards of the online community but also be good stewards in the physical community.

The collapse of what was the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, impacted the majority of its users and the wider cryptocurrency industry.

Following the roller coaster downfall of FTX, the disgraced cryptocurrency exchange has released a list of its top investor holders that the crash has wiped out. The release of the documents is part of the process of FTX going bankrupt, which showed that Tom Brady owned just over 1.1 million common shares of the company.

Additionally, Brady's ex-wife owns 700,000 common shares of FTX, billionaire Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots NFL team, was also listed in the documents with 110,000 Series B preferred shares of FTX Trading, 479,000 common shares, and 44,000 Series A preferred shares of the owner of FTX US, West Realm Shires. Wall Street hedge funds were also listed on the document and growth investors, with funds such as Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Third Point and more.

Elon Musk's legal team published a filing last Friday that requested Musk's upcoming trial be relocated over the jury having a potential bias against him.

The trial comes from a class action lawsuit that accuses Musk of manipulating Tesla stock with his infamous 2018 tweet where he wrote that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private. As a result of the tweet, Tesla's stock price went up and down chaotically, which sparked an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and an eventual fine of $40 million. CNBC reports that the purpose of the upcoming trial is to determine if Musk/Tesla should be held accountable for any damages to shareholders.

The filing from Musk's legal team states that Musk's takeover of Twitter and his unpopular mass layoffs has created an environment that encourages San Francisco's jury pool to have negative biases about Musk as a result of local media outlet coverage. Additionally, the filing states that jurors will be unable to separate this bias from the facts throughout the case, making them unable to impartially evaluate Musk's actions.

Elon Musk's Twitter has unsurprisingly cut more of its staff after Musk reportedly said just last November that the company wouldn't fire or lay off any more of its workers.

Bloomberg has reported that Twitter has laid off "at least a dozen" staff in its Dublin and Singapore offices, targeting divisions such as content moderation and misinformation. Notably, of the approximately twelve staff that were fired included Analusia Dominguez, the company's former senior director of revenue policy. Furthermore, reports indicate that a handful of employees tasked with maintaining Twitter's global appeals process and state media program were also cut.

The news was confirmed by Ella Irwin, Twitter's head of trust and safety, who said that a selection of staff had been laid off as a result of the company-wide cuts to expenditure. Irwin spoke to Bloomberg and said that "It made more sense to consolidate teams under one leader (instead of two), for example", and that Twitter conducted a company-wide evaluation and eliminated roles that weren't producing enough "volume" to justify employing the talent behind them.

Elon Musk has announced that Twitter will be banning any account that is posting the real-time location of individuals as its a physical safety violation.

The SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter CEO took to his personal Twitter account to make the announcement, writing that any account "doxxing real-time location info" of anyone will now be suspended from the platform. Musk added that accounts will be suspended if they post links to sites with real-time location information and that accounts posting locations of where someone traveled on a delayed basis isn't a violation as that individual is safe.

The Tesla CEO continued to explain his reasoning behind the change, with Musk writing that on December 14, a car that was carrying his son "lil X" was followed by a "crazy stalker (thinking it was me)". This stalker eventually blocked the car from moving and then climbed onto the roof. Musk managed to get a video of the stalker and asked the public if anyone recognized "the person or car?"

SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk made a surprise guest appearance at one of Dave Chappelle's comedy shows on Sunday night and was met with large portions of the crowd booing him.

Musk made an appearance at Dave Chappelle's comedy show in San Francisco, the same city that hosts Twitter HQ. Chappelle introduced Musk as the richest man alive. Musk was met with large portions of the crowd booing him, which even eventuated in Musk asking Chappelle what he should do next. Chappelle attempted to make light of the situation by saying that it sounded like many of the former Twitter staff that Musk fired "are in the audience".

Chappelle went on to defend Musk by asking the crowd to stop booing his guest, saying that "there is something better you could do" and "booing isn't the best thing you can do". Musk replied to a Twitter comment after the event that mentioned the booing he received at Chappelle's show, Musk wrote, "Technically, it was 90% cheers & 10% boos (except during quiet periods), but, still, that's a lot of boos, which is a first for me in real life (frequent on Twitter). It's almost as if I've offended SF's unhinged leftists ... but nahhh."

The US Justice Department is reportedly investigating Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), a prominent businessman, and investor, over his role in the collapse of FTX, what was the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange.

The exact details of the investigation are not yet known, but it is believed to be focused on potential fraud or misconduct on the part of SBF or other executives at FTX. FTX was once a rising star in the world of finance, known for its innovative financial products and aggressive growth strategy. However, the company faced increasing scrutiny and criticism in the years leading up to its collapse, with some alleging that its rapid expansion was built on risky and potentially fraudulent practices.

In the end, the company was unable to withstand the pressures of the market and went bankrupt, leaving many investors and employees to hang out to dry. SBF, whose full name has not been publicly released, was one of the key executives at FTX and played a major role in shaping the company's strategy. He was known for his ambitious vision and his ability to secure significant investments from some of the biggest names in finance. However, his involvement with FTX has now drawn the attention of federal investigators.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, recently announced that Twitter will be increasing its character limit from 280 to 4000.

This change has been highly anticipated by many users, who have long complained about the constraints of the 280-character limit. The expanded character limit will give users more freedom to express themselves in their tweets. It will also allow for more detailed and nuanced discussions on the platform. This is particularly useful for journalists and other content creators who often need to share longer articles or more complex ideas.

Many have praised the move, saying that it will help to improve the quality and depth of discourse on Twitter. Others, however, have voiced concerns that the expanded character limit may lead to an influx of spam and low-quality content.