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Tag: General Motors

  • GM pauses advertising on Twitter after Elon Musk takeover | CNN Business

    GM pauses advertising on Twitter after Elon Musk takeover | CNN Business


    New York
    CNN Business
     — 

    General Motors is pausing its advertising on Twitter now that the social media platform is owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the company said in a statement Friday.

    The nation’s largest automaker said that it is making the change while it evaluates “Twitter’s new direction.” It said it will still utilize the platform to interact with customers but will not pay for advertising.

    “We are engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under their new ownership. As is normal course of business with a significant change in a media platform, we have temporarily paused our paid advertising,” the company said in an emailed statement.

    Musk took control of Twitter Thursday evening, ending a six-month round of on-again-off-again negotiations and court wrangling about purchasing the social media platform. Ahead of closing the deal he was concerned enough about the potential loss of ad revenue to post a letter to advertisers Thursday to try to reassure them.

    He said he doesn’t want the platform to become a “free-for-all-hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences,” despite his stated promise to rethink its content moderation policies and bolster “free speech.”

    “Fundamentally, Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world that strengthens your brand and grows your enterprise … Let us build something extraordinary together,” he said in the letter.

    Advertising made up 92% of Twitter’s revenue in the second quarter, and if advertisers are scared away from Twitter by its new ownership, it will be disastrous for the company, said Dan Ives, tech analyst for Wedbush Securities.

    “It sends an ominous signal,” Ives said. “GM is the first, but it’s not going to be the only one. We have to wait and see if there’s a wave. On the day that Musk closes the deal, it’s not the news he wanted to hear.”

    GM

    (GM)     competes with Tesla

    (TSLA)     in car sales and is making a major push to sell its own electric vehicles, though it trails far behind Tesla

    (TSLA)     in terms of total US sales of electric vehicles. And electric vehicles make up only about 1% of GM

    (GM)    ’s US sales so far this year, although it has ambitious EV growth plans, saying it will stop selling petroleum-fueled vehicles by 2035.

    It’s also not likely that Twitter will provide any financial support for Tesla, given that it is losing hundred of millions of dollars per quarter, while Tesla, even when it has what is considered a disappointing quarter, is profitable.

    But Ives said it can’t be ruled out that part of GM’s motivation in pulling its advertising was as a shot across the bow at Musk.

    “It shows how they view Tesla as a competitor in the EV space,” said Ives. But he said if advertisers do continue to pull their dollars from Twitter, it won’t just be automakers.

    Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on GM’s statement Friday evening.

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  • GM says its U.S. facilities will be powered by renewables by 2025

    GM says its U.S. facilities will be powered by renewables by 2025

    General Motors said Wednesday that it has secured all of the renewable energy it needs to power all of its U.S. facilities by 2025, 25 years ahead of earlier projections.

    The Detroit automaker, which initially targeted the year 2050 to achieve its all-renewables goal, said it secured sourcing agreements from 16 renewable energy plants across 10 states.

    In early 2021, GM moved up its all-renewables target date to 2030, then advanced that goal by five years this week.

    The five-year difference will help erase an estimated 1 million metric tons of carbon emissions, equal to the emissions produced by burning 1 billion pounds of coal, GM said.

    “We believe it is critical — to ourselves, to our customers and to the future of the planet — to step up our efforts and reach ambitious targets that move us closer to a more sustainable world,” said Kristen Siemen, the company’s chief sustainability officer. “Securing the renewable energy we need to achieve our goal demonstrates tangible progress in reducing our emissions in all aspects of our business, ultimately moving us closer to our vision of a future with zero emissions.”


    General Motors CEO Mary Barra predicts EV dominance by mid-decade

    04:44

    $35 million investment in carbon-neutral vision

    In recent years, the Detroit automaker has committed to invest $35 billion into electric and autonomous vehicle production with the goal of eliminating tailpipe emissions from its U.S. light-duty autos by 2035. By 2040, the company plans to become carbon neutral, according to a GM press release. 

    “General Motors has been a trailblazer in corporate clean energy procurement for manufacturing facilities for over a decade,” said Miranda Ballentine, CEO of the Clean Energy Buyers Association. “Today’s announcement of securing the energy needed to achieve their 2025 goal is another example of their leadership.”

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