Tag: Elon Musk

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Twitter points fingers at Elon Musk as the cause of lower-than-expected revenue

Twitter recently reported its Q2 2022 earnings. Throughout the recent months, the company’s total revenue dipped from $1.19 billion USD (roughly $2.4 billion CAD) year-over-year down to $1.18 billion USD (roughly $2.3 billion CAD). Twitter blames Elon Musk as a factor as well as ad industry issues.

In Twitter’s latest earnings report, the company reveals that it brought in a total of $1.18 billion USD  (roughly $1.5 billion CAD), coming up short of its target. In the report, Twitter cites uncertainty related to the pending acquisition of Twitter by an affiliate of Elon Musk” as a factor of this lowered
revenue.

On April 25th, Twitter announced that it entered an agreement with Tesla CEO Elon Musk to be acquired for $44 billion USD (roughly $60 billion CAD). Once and if the deal is complete, Musk is to take sole ownership of the social media platform for $54.20 USD (roughly $69.60 CAD) per share in cash. Following the acquisition, Twitter is to become a privately held company.

However, since the announcement of the deal, Musk has been finding ways to try and back out. Tesla’s CEO is said to have been attempting to prove how much of Twitter’s user base is comprised of fake and spam accounts. Earlier this month, Musk filed a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), claiming Twitter is “in material breach” of its contract.

Twitter’s revenue woes aren’t exclusive to Musk, as Industry-wide ad problems persist and are causing hiccups. Twitter’s ad sales are indeed up 2 percent year over year. That said, this wasn’t enough to counterbalance the loss in revenue. Twitter reported a net loss of $270 million USD (roughly $35 million CAD). Additionally, the company saw a profit decrease of $66 million USD (roughly $84 million CAD) during the same quarter in 2021. Twitter hopes to see ad sales growth in order to reach revenue milestones.

While revenue is down, usage and user base are up this quarter. Twitter reports that the social media platform has reached over 237 million daily users. This figure is up from 229 million during its last quarter.

Via: The Verge

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Cybertruck deliveries could finally start arriving in mid-2023

During the company’s Q2 investor call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the company’s eagerly anticipated Cybertruck electric vehicle (EV) could begin delivery in the “middle of next year.”

This is the most specific timeline Musk has offered so far. The CEO previously said that the EV would “hopefully” arrive next year.

The Cybertruck was announced way back in 2019, with the goal of entering production in late 2021, a mark that’s clearly been missed. Then in August 2021, Musk delayed the vehicle to 2022, before pushing it back to January during a Q4 earnings call.

It’s unclear what the cause of the delay is, but it’s believed to be tied to its outlandish video game-like design — or perhaps its rather strange-looking single front wiper. That said, the rather out-there-looking truck has been spotted in the wild several times over the past few years.

During Tesla’s earnings call, Musk didn’t offer more detail regarding the vehicle’s continued delays. The controversial CEO said that the company “does not have a demand problem; we have a production problem.” Tesla’s Q2 profit fell 32 percent from the previous quarter to $2.25 billion USD (roughly 2.89 billion CAD).

Image credit: Tesla

Source: CNBC Via: The Verge

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Judge says Musk, Twitter trial will take place in October

The Delaware Court of Chancery says Elon Musk’s Twitter deal will go to court in October.

Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk last week to force him to make good on his deal to buy Twitter. In a suit, the company’s lawyers said Musk is walking away from the deal because it “no longer serves his personal interests.”

Twitter’s lawyers asked the court to expedite the trial to September, while Musk’s representatives wanted to push the date to 2023.

“The reality is that delay threatens the risk of irreparable harm. We should go to trial in October of this year,” Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick said in her decision, dismissing any chance the trial would be delayed to 2023.

The world’s richest man announced he was going to buy the social media company earlier this year before making attempts to walk away, citing the company has been “in material breach” of commitments it made.

“For nearly two months, Mr. Musk has sought the data and information necessary to ‘make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform,’” a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from Musk’s legal team says.

Source: Delaware Court of Chancery Via The Independent 

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A brief history of Tesla, Elon Musk and Steam gaming

Tesla’s latest stunt could be adding PC gaming launcher, Steam, to its electric vehicles (EVs).

The automaker has claimed its car is a gaming powerhouse since it refreshed the Model S’ and X’s interiors. The infotainment system hosts roughly 20 games in the Tesla Arcade app. These apps range from mobile titles like the Beach Buggy Racing 2 and Fallout Shelter to arcade games like Asteroids.

In January 2020, Musk asked his Twitter followers if they’d like to see AAA game The Witcher 3 running on Tesla cars. Tucked in the Model S and X interior refresh photos, Tesla again hinted that The Witcher 3 would come to the vehicles a year later. Then in June 2021, Musk announced that the Plaid tier Model S would even be capable of playing Cyberpunk 2077. An actual release date for either game has yet to appear.

With all of this in mind, take Tesla’s Steam announcement with a grain of salt.

Musk recently tweeted, “We’re making progress with Steam integration. Demo probably next month.”

This is the second time Musk has publically mentioned Steam being featured in Tesla vehicles. The first was a response to IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey on February 22nd, who asked about the release date of Cyberpunk 2077 on Tesla cars. At that time, Musk said the company was deciding whether to bring over individual games or work on the whole Steam experience.

There is still a lot to know about the program when/if it launches. Will it support all Steam games? Can it run on all Tesla cars or only modern ones? There are near endless questions surrounding Musk’s tweet, but as usual, not a lot of answers.

Source: @elonmusk Via: The Verge 

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Twitter sues Elon Musk for trying to back out of $44 billion acquisition

The battle between the world’s richest man and a social media giant continues.

Twitter has sued Elon Musk after the Tesla CEO officially attempted to exit the $44 billion USD (about $57.3 billion CAD) acquisition deal he announced in April.

“Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests,” the company writes in a suit filed to the Chancery Court in Delaware. “Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away.”

Musk, on the other hand, has claimed that Twitter has been “in material breach” of its own commitments. “For nearly two months, Mr. Musk has sought the data and information necessary to ‘make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform,’” reads a letter to the U.S.’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from Musk’s legal team. “Twitter has failed or refused to provide this information.”

Specifically, Musk has repeatedly said that he doesn’t believe Twitter’s public statements that roughly five percent of its active users are bots. He claims that he’s asked Twitter to provide accurate information, but the company hasn’t done so. Twitter has said it will work with Musk to deliver this data, but it’s unclear what’s actually transpired behind the scenes.

According to a Twitter memo obtained by The New York Times, the social media giant is seeking a four-day trial this September. This would, in theory, allow for a resolution prior to the acquisition deal’s October 24th deadline for completion. However, Musk and Twitter would have an additional six months to close the deal should it still be awaiting regulatory approval by that cutoff date.

It should be noted that in addition to the courts ruling in favour of either Twitter or Musk, both parties could reach some sort of settlement or even see the deal fall through. In the case of the latter scenario, Musk would pay a $1 billion USD (about $1.3 billion CAD) fee and walk away. There are several possible outcomes, ultimately.

Musk has not yet responded to Twitter’s lawsuit.

Source: Delaware Court of Chancery 

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Twitter asks staff to not tweet about the Elon Musk deal

Twitter has directed employees not to publicly comment on the Elon Musk acquisition after the Tesla CEO declared he wanted out of the deal late Friday.

As reported by The Verge, a memo sent to staff by Twitter’s general counsel, Sean Edgett, asked staff to “refrain from Tweeting, Slacking, or sharing any commentary about the merger agreement.” The Verge obtained a copy of the memo, which you can read in full below:

Team,

Today we received a notice of purported termination from Elon Musk, and the Twitter Board issued the following statement in response (see our Chairman Bret Taylor’s Tweet here):

“The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.”

Given that this is an ongoing legal matter, you should refrain from Tweeting, Slacking, or sharing any commentary about the merger agreement. We will continue to share information when we are able, but please know we are going to be very limited on what we can share in the meantime.

I know this is an uncertain time, and we appreciate your patience and ongoing commitment to the important work we have underway.

Musk alleged that Twitter failed to provide information about the number of bots on its platform, which appears to be the basis for Musk pulling out of the deal. However, as has been pointed out repeatedly, that argument is pretty bogus considering Musk’s team kept asking for more details about bots and spam and Twitter kept providing the information, although not always as quickly or in the way that Musk wanted. Casey Newton has an excellent explanation of the strategy to bury Twitter in paperwork and get Musk out of the deal in his Platformer newsletter.

Following Musk’s attempt to pull out of the deal, Twitter announced it would sue to ensure the deal goes through as per the original agreement.

After the news broke, The Verge notes that Twitter employees were quick to mock the situation on Twitter, which may have prompted the memo.

Source: The Verge

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Elon Musk now officially attempting to terminate Twitter buyout deal

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is officially pulling out of his plans to acquire Twitter for $44 billion USD (about $60 billion CAD).

In a letter to the U.S.’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk’s legal team claimed that Twitter has “in material breach” of its contractual obligations in the deal.

“For nearly two months, Mr. Musk has sought the data and information necessary to ‘make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform,’” reads the letter. “Twitter has failed or refused to provide this information.”

Musk previously said he didn’t believe Twitter’s “lax testing methodologies” and alleged that the company was refusing to provide him with accurate data. As a result, he threatened to pull out of the deal in June, although Twitter quickly said it would give him the information he seeks. It’s unclear what happened behind-the-scenes in the month since, but Musk clearly isn’t satisfied.

It should be noted, however, that it’s unclear whether Musk has legitimate legal ground to withdraw from the deal. To start, he did agree to pay $1 billion USD (about $1.3 billion CAD) — a small sum for the world’s richest man. More importantly, though, it remains to be seen whether Musk will be legally bound to honour the agreement. To that point, Twitter chairman Bret Taylor has said that the company is “committed” to seeing the deal through.

“The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery,” said Taylor in a July 8th tweet.

Musk and Twitter first announced the acquisition on April 25th, following criticisms of the platform for not maintaining “free speech.” Specifically, Musk has questioned whether Twitter adheres to the “principle” that “free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.” During this time, Musk has also been contesting a 2018 court ruling that requires him to vet any tweets that could affect Tesla stock price by his lawyers.

At the time of writing, Musk — a prominent figure on Twitter with over 100 million followers — has not yet tweeted about his desire to pull out of the deal.

Source: SEC

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Elon Musk’s Boring Company will accept Dogecoin for rides in Las Vegas loop tunnel

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s alternate venture, The Boring Company, which prides itself in tunnel construction services, will soon accept cryptocurrency Dogecoin for rides in its Las Vegas, Nevada Loop tunnels, as reported by CNN.

The loop in question is located outside the Las Vegas Convention Centre and currently offers three stops, with plans to expand the loop to cover 50 stations on the Vegas Strip. Rides on the loop are currently free, but according to CNN, the company plans to eventually charge $1.50 for single rides and $2.50 for day passes. Riders will be able to buy tickets with Dogecoin by scanning a QR code at the new Resorts World stop. People who do not want to pay in Dogecoin can do so with a standard credit card or U.S. dollars.

Musk has long been a proponent of cryptocurrencies and frequently mentions them in his tweets. The current move comes a few months after Musk announced that Dogecoin payments are live on Tesla’s merch store.

In the past, when the cryptocurrency markets were trending up, Musk’s tweets in support of Dogecoin would send it rallying up. However, this time around, the price of $DOGE stayed rather stagnant, implying that Musk’s influence is slowly fading away, and market participants aren’t as hyped about Dogecoin as they once were.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: CNN

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Tesla lays off 200 Autopilot employees in California

Concha Zaspa, Ukraine – July 20, 2018: Tesla sign on the building on car sales

Tesla has reduced its workforce by nearly 200 after laying off employees responsible for training the manufacturer’s Autopilot AI system.

The layoffs, first reported by Bloomberg, focus on the company’s San Mateo, California office and primarily feature hourly workers responsible for labelling training data.

TechCrunch reports the San Mateo office had 276 employees prior to the layoffs. After removing 195 workers, Tesla will relocate the remaining 81 employees to another office. The publication says most of the workers filled “moderately low-skilled, low-wage jobs.”

The layoffs come just days after founder Elon Musk confirmed Tesla would reduce its staff by 10 percent. However, the reduction was aimed at the company’s salaried workforce and Musk said its hourly staff will grow, leading to an overall reduction of 3.5 percent. News of the reduction broke earlier this month when Musk told company execs in an email that he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy. 

As with many ongoing actions surrounding Musk and his business ventures, the recent layoffs of hourly workers question the legitimacy of his comments.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Bloomberg and TechCrunch via The Verge 

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Elon Musk reaches over 100 million followers on Twitter

Elon Musk reached the 100 million follower milestone on Twitter and his account has the sixth-highest follower count on the platform, behind Barack Obama, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Cristiano Ronaldo, respectively.

Musk passed 100 million followers between June 26th and June 27th where he saw a gain of almost 150,000 followers within that period, according to SocialBlade. With Musk recently in the midst of buying Twitter, he could one the most “post savvy” social media owners compared to others.

His average daily amount of posts on Twitter is 14, and most them consist of memes, some of which take shots at other famous people.

The only main concern with Musk’s follower count is spam bots, which, according to Musk, take up 20 percent of users on Twitter. He says this is part of the reason why hasn’t yet moved forward with a deal to buy the social media platform.

For now, Musk proceeds to post the usual on his Twitter account, with his most recent one showing a 7-Eleven gas sign, followed by gas prices shown below at $7.11 USD ($9.16 CAD) at the time of this article.

Source: SocialBlade Via: The Verge