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Tag: elon musk twitter deal

  • ‘Working remotely is ok if…’: Elon Musk clarifies on Work From Home policy at Twitter, Tesla, SpaceX

    ‘Working remotely is ok if…’: Elon Musk clarifies on Work From Home policy at Twitter, Tesla, SpaceX

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    Billionaire Elon Musk, on Sunday, said that his Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX staff can work from home if it is not logistically possible to come into the office.

    Musk made this statement while responding to a message on the microblogging site Twitter from an Irish-based worker who said they had been told to return to the office from tomorrow.

    The worker wrote, “As I’m sure you’re aware, Elon Musk has recently bought Twitter and is making harsh and drastic changes that are affecting hundreds of Irish employees’ lives. The most recent of these decisions is that all employees must be in the office by Monday. Many of us work all around this country and are unable to do so. This is in the middle of a housing crisis that Musk has absolutely no idea about, and it is almost impossible to move to Dublin so quickly. This is putting us under an intense amount of stress and uncertainty and unfortunately.”

    He also said, “There is nothing we can do about it. One of the only things that Elon seems to react to is his own ego and the feeling of being unpopular on Twitter.”

    Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter, Tesla and SpaceX, replied that he was not ordering people back into the office.

    He tweeted, “This is false. Anyone who can be in office, should be. However, if not logistically possible or they have essential personal matters, then staying home is fine.”

    The billionaire added that “Working remotely is also ok if their manager vouches for excellence. Same policy as Tesla & SpaceX.”

    Recently, Musk informed the staff, via an email, that he is ending the “work from home” regime permanently. In his letter to employees, Musk reportedly asked employees to brace for “difficult times ahead”.

    Musk had previously eliminated “days of rest” from the calendars of Twitter employees. The “days of rest” are monthly days that employees can take to rest and recharge.

    Musk reportedly asked the employees to work for 40 hours a week. He said that he would only let employees work remotely on a case-by-case basis.

    Musk, who is not a huge fan of working from home, had also asked the Tesla employees to return to the office. He threatened employees with dire consequences if they failed to return to the office.

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  • Jack Dorsey apologies for massive layoffs at Twitter, takes responsibility

    Jack Dorsey apologies for massive layoffs at Twitter, takes responsibility

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    Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on Saturday took responsibility for mass layoffs at the company under Elon Musk.

    Dorsey, in a tweet, apologised and said, “Folks at Twitter past and present are strong and resilient. They will always find a way no matter how difficult the moment. I realize many are angry with me. I own the responsibility for why everyone is in this situation: I grew the company size too quickly. I apologize for that.”

    He further added, “I am grateful for, and love, everyone who has ever worked on Twitter. I don’t expect that to be mutual in this moment…or ever…and I understand.”

    This update comes a day after massive layoffs were reported at Twitter offices from around the world.

    At Twitter India, over 50 per cent of the staff was laid off without prior intimation. Meanwhile, in the US, several employees received a mail saying, “If on way to office, please return home.”

    Musk confirmed the layoffs in a tweet, “Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately, there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day.”

    Musk assured that all who have exited the company have been offered 3 months of severance.

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  • Elon Musk’s big challenge after buying Twitter: Setting free speech threshold

    Elon Musk’s big challenge after buying Twitter: Setting free speech threshold

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    US-based microblogging site Twitter’s new owner, the self-described “free speech absolutist” Elon Musk’s first move after gaining the leadership position of the social media platform was to fire the company’s top executives. Musk’s this decision speaks volumes about his ownership and his plans for the social media platform’s future.

    He fired the company’s chief executive officer Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, and chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde. He had accused them of misleading Twitter investors over the number of fake accounts on the platform.

    Later, the billionaire also posted a conciliatory note to wary advertisers, assuring them he won’t allow Twitter to devolve into a “free-for-all hellscape.”

    Musk said that he had bought Twitter in a bid to ‘help humanity’ amid the “great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”

    Musk also plans to scrap permanent bans on users, Bloomberg said, citing a person familiar with the matter. Musk has indicated he sees Twitter as a foundation for creating a “super app” that offers everything from money transfers to shopping and ride-hailing.

    However, the problem is that not even the world’s richest man can have it both ways.

    Sites such as Gab and Parler, which have lightly moderated “free speech”, serve as cautionary tales of what can happen when the guardrails are lowered. These small sites are popular with libertarians and conservatives fed-up with what they see as censorship of their perception on platforms like Facebook. Moreover, such sites also reported to be full of trolls and other derogatory content.

    This makes advertisers stop promoting their products next to disturbing, racist and hateful posts. Many don’t want to spend time on online sites filled with racist and sexist trolls.

    US-based automaker General Motors, on Friday, announced that it would pause advertising on Twitter while it figures out the direction of the platform under Musk.

    However, according to Lou Paskalis, former head of media for Bank of America, Twitter’s most loyal advertisers, which consists of many Fortune 100 companies, still believe in the platform and aren’t likely to leave unless “some really untoward things” happen.

    Moreover, European regulators also reiterated that under Musk’s leadership Twitter must still abide by the region’s Digital Services Act. It should be noted that European Union levies hefty fines on firms if they don’t control illegal content on their platform.

    “In Europe, the bird will fly by our EU rules,” EU industry chief Thierry Breton tweeted. European Parliament lawmaker and civil rights proponent Patrick Breyer suggested people look for alternatives where privacy is a priority.

    “Twitter already knows our personalities dangerously well due to its pervasive surveillance of our every click. Now this knowledge will be falling into Musk’s hands.”

    Currently, Twitter is struggling to engage its most active users who are vital to its business. These “heavy tweeters” account for less than 10 per cent of monthly overall users but still generate around 90 per cent of all tweets and half of the company’s global revenue.

    Another task for Musk will be to deliver on his promise to clean up the fake profiles, or “spam bots” that have preoccupied him. This also matters because advertisers, the company’s major stream of revenue, want to know how many real users they are reaching when they buy ads.

    (With input from agencies)

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  • ‘He is trying to please people’: What made Elon Musk fire Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal

    ‘He is trying to please people’: What made Elon Musk fire Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal

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    The biggest and what is touted to be the messiest deal of our times, the Twitter-Musk deal, is in its final episode. The deal has reportedly been closed and the world’s richest man now owns Twitter. However, no official confirmation is out on it yet. 

    The reports of the deal closing also say that Twitter’s top brass, including its Indian-origin CEO Parag Agrawal, have been sacked by the incoming owner.

    Elon Musk and Parag Agrawal started off great, however, their relationship went south dramatically as the deal talks progressed.

    A series of texts that were disclosed at Delaware court revealed that the two were cordial and excited to start working with each other, bonding over ‘engineering’ and their liking for the microblogging site, the BBC reported.

    As the months went by and Musk started with his due diligence in Twitter’s spam/bot accounts and voiced them unabashedly on Twitter, the duo started falling apart. In fact it was a tweet from Musk that did not go well with Agrawal. 

    Musk on April 9 asked on his Twitter if the social media site was dying as “most of its top accounts rarely tweet.” 

    Before this tweet, Musk and Agrawal seemed to bond well. In fact, in March when it became clear that Musk intends to buy Twitter shares, Agrawal texted him saying that he would love to chat. Eventually, by March 31, the two met for a dinner in San Jose at an Airbnb near a farmyard. 

    Musk described the dinner as, “wins for the weirdest place I’ve had a meeting recently”. Agrawal too, thought it was “memorable.”

    On April 5, the decision to appoint Musk on board was made and announced.  Musk replied to Agrawal’s tweet saying how he was excited to work with Twitter and Agrawal, to make significant improvements. 

    Then came the April 9 tweet on the “most popular accounts” and if Twitter was “dying” that led to the downfall of this brimming bond between the two engineers.

    On April 11, Agrawal took Twitter to announce that Musk has decided not to join the board.

    Just three days after this, Twitter in an SEC filing, revealed Musk’s offer to buy the company for $44 billion. However, there were murmurs Twitter would resist the takeover.  

    In between, a mutual friend tried to come to the rescue. Jack Dorsey, former Twitter top boss, tried to patch up the relationship between Musk and Agrawal but didn’t succeed. 

    The next day, Jack Dorsey made another attempt to patch up the relationship between the two. He organised a call but it didn’t go well, the BBC reported. 

    Musk then texted Dorsey saying, “Parag is just moving far too slowly and trying to please people who will not be happy no matter what he does.”

    Dorsey replied: “At least it became clear that you can’t work together,” the BBC reported.

    Also read: CEO Parag Agrawal leaves Twitter office after getting fired, won’t return: Report

    Also read: ‘Good riddance’: Netizens celebrate Parag Agrawal’s ouster as Twitter CEO

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  • Elon Musk under federal investigation for $44 bn Twitter takeover deal

    Elon Musk under federal investigation for $44 bn Twitter takeover deal

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    Elon Musk is being investigated by federal authorities over his conduct in his $44 billion takeover deal for Twitter Inc, the social media company said in a court filing released on Thursday.

    While the filing said he was under investigations, it did not say what the exact focus of the probes were and which federal authorities are conducting them.

    Twitter, which sued Musk in July to force him to close the deal, said attorneys for the Tesla Inc CEO had claimed “investigative privilege” when refusing to hand over documents it had sought.

    In late September, Musk’s attorneys had provided a “privilege log” identifying documents to be withheld, Twitter said. The log referenced drafts of a May 13 email to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a slide presentation to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

    The court filing, which asked a Delaware judge to order the Musk’s attorneys to provide the documents, was made on Oct. 6 – the same day that the judge that paused litigation between the two sides after Musk reversed course and said he would proceed with the deal.

    “This game of ‘hide the ball’ must end,” the company said in the court filing.

    Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk, told Reuters that Twitter’s court filing was a “misdirection.” Twitter declined to comment on Spiro’s response and to Reuters queries about its understanding of any investigation into Musk.

    The SEC did not immediately respond to request for comment and the FTC declined to comment.

    The SEC has questioned Musk’s comments about the Twitter acquisition. In April, the SEC asked Musk whether the disclosure of his 9% Twitter stake was late and why it indicated that he intended to be a passive shareholder. Musk later refiled the disclosure to indicate he was an active investor.

    In June, the SEC asked Musk in a letter whether he should have amended his public filing to reflect his intention to suspend or abandon the deal.

    The Information, a tech news site, reported in April that the FTC was scrutinizing whether Musk failed to comply with an antitrust reporting requirement as he amassed his stake in Twitter.

    Twitter said in June that the takeover deal with Musk had cleared an antitrust waiting period for review by the FTC and US Justice Department. 

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