Elon Musk has traded nearly $7 billion worth of shares in Tesla as the billionaire gets his finances in order ahead of his court battle with Twitter.
Musk disclosed in series of regulatory filings that he unloaded about 8 million shares of his company Tesla Inc. in recent days.
“In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close and some equity partners don’t come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock,” Musk tweeted late Tuesday.
Musk is by far the largest individual shareholder in both Tesla and Twitter.
Shares of Tesla rose almost 2% before the opening bell Wednesday. Shares of Twitter Inc., up 16% in the past month with most believing Musk faces long-shot odds of success in court, jumped another 3%.
Musk countersued Twitter last week, accusing the company of fraud over his aborted $44 billion acquisition. He claimed that Twitter held back critical information and misled his team about the size of its user base.
Musk alleges that Twitter committed fraud, breach of contract and violation of a securities law in Texas, where Musk lives.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that Musk offered to buy Twitter earlier this year, then tried to back out of the deal claiming the social platform was infested with a larger numbers of “spam bots” and fake accounts than Twitter had disclosed.
Musk said in the spring that he planned no major sales of his stake in Tesla after lining up financing to acquire Twitter, but Dan Ives, an industry analysts with Wedbush, said Wednesday that “the situation has dramatically changed.”
Wedbush raised it’s target price for shares of Twitter, “With the chances of a Twitter deal now more likely in our opinion and the Street seeing through this poker move by Musk,” Ives wrote to clients.
“We can also see Musk trying to resolve this powder keg situation before the Twitter deal officially heads to court in October,” Ives wrote. “At a minimum, we see Twitter getting a massive settlement from Musk in the $5 billion to $10 billion range that is starting to be factored into the stock.”
A judge has ruled that the answer of the South African-born American entrepreneur, Elon Musk, who was sued by Twitter’s investors, be made public by Friday evening at the latest.
Musk was sued over his attempt to back out of a $44 billion deal to buy the social media company.
Attorneys for Musk wanted to file a public version of their answer and counterclaims in Delaware court Wednesday. But Twitter attorneys complained that they needed more time to review and potentially redact Musk’s sealed filing, saying it refers “extensively” to internal Twitter information and data given to Musk.
Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick held a quick teleconference Wednesday before agreeing with Twitter, directing that the public filing be docketed by 5 p.m. Friday. It could be filed earlier depending on when Twitter attorneys complete their review.
Twitter attorneys argued that court rules require that five business days lapse before a public version of Musk’s filing is docketed.
“Few cases attract as much public interest as this one, and Twitter is mindful of this court’s commitment to ensuring maximum public access to its proceedings,” Twitter attorney Kevin Shannon wrote. “Twitter has no interest in proposing any more redactions to defendants’ responsive pleading than are necessary.”
Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX company
Musk attorney Edward Micheletti argued that Twitter’s lawyers were misinterpreting the court rules. Musk attorneys also say there is no confidential information in Musk’s filing that should be withheld from the public.
“Twitter should not be permitted to continue burying the side of the story it does not want publicly disclosed,” Micheletti wrote.
Musk, the world’s richest man, agreed in April to buy Twitter and take it private, offering $54.20 a share and vowing to loosen the company’s policing of content and to root out fake accounts.
Twitter shares closed Wednesday at $41, well off a 52-week high of $69.81.
Musk, indicated in July that he wanted to back away from the deal, prompting Twitter to file a lawsuit to hold him to the “seller-friendly” agreement.
Musk says Twitter has failed to provide him enough information about the number of fake accounts on its service. Twitter argues that Musk, CEO of electric car maker and solar energy company Tesla Inc., is deliberately trying to tank the deal because market conditions have deteriorated and the acquisition no longer serves his interests.
Either Musk or Twitter would be entitled to a $1 billion breakup fee if the other party is found responsible for the agreement failing. Twitter wants more, however, and is seeking a court order of “specific performance” directing Musk to follow through with the deal.
World’s richest man, Elon Musk, has secretly welcomed a set of twins with an employee in one of his businesses’ Directors, Shivon Zilis.
A court documents obtained by Insider, and published on Wednesday said the twins were born last year November in Austin, Texas in the USA.
Zilis is the Director of Operations and Special Projects at Neuralink, a neurotechnology firm founded and owned by Musk.
Filed in April 2022, the papers were a request by the parents to a Texan county judge to change their babies’ names to reflect their “father’s last name, and contain their mother’s last name as part of their middle name.”
The order was eventually approved by the Judge in May.
Insider also reports that the twins arrived weeks before the birth of Musk’s daughter with his former partner, Claire Boucher, a Canadian singer popularly known as Grimes.
During a cover story interview with Vanity Fair in April, Boucher confessed to secretly welcoming the child via a surrogate in December 2021.
Musk also shares 18-year-old twins, Vivian Jenna Wilson and Griffin Musk, alongside 16-year-old triplets, Kai, Damian, and Sax Musk, with his first wife, Justine Wilson. The couple had another son, Nevada Musk, who died at 10 weeks.
In June, Vivian who was formerly known as Xavier Alexander Musk, legally changed her name and cut ties with her father. In the filing, it was also revealed that her gender was changed from male to female.
Former Xavier Alexander Musk, 18, transgender daughter of SpaceX founder and chief engineer, Elon Musk, has applied to legally change her name, to distance herself from her father.
Xavier, who has a twin named Griffin, turned 18 back in April.
Almost immediately after her birthday, Xavier filed a petition with the courthouse to change her name as she embraces her new identity as Vivian.
The documents were obtained by journalists from the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County, but was not published immediately to give Vivian time to come out on her own.
However, the documents started making their way around Twitter on Saturday night, just ahead of Father’s Day. Her hearing is scheduled for this Friday.
Xavier is requesting to change her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson. She is also asking for the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County to recognize her gender as female. The petition was filed on Monday, April 18.
Vivian listed the reason for the name change was not wanting to be associated with her biological father.
The document states: “Gender Identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.”
Musk and Wilson turned to IVF, and, in April 2004, Wilson gave birth to two twin sons: Griffin and Xavier. They both just turned 18 back in April.
The former couple also used IVF to welcome triplet sons two years later. Their names were Kai, Saxon, and Damian.
All three boys are now 16. Two years later, in 2008, the pair filed for divorce. They still share custody of their five children.
However, Xavier claims that part of the reason that she wants to change her name is to distance herself from her biological father, who has been accused of having transphobic views over the past several years.
Neither Elon Musk nor Justine Wilson, Xavier’s parents, have yet to provide public comment on the new name (Vivian) and gender change.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that the Tesla and SpaceX chief is attempting a $44 billion (£35.8 bn) takeover of social media platform Twitter.
Earlier this year, Musk declared his support for the US Republican Party, whose elected representatives support a raft of legislation that would limit transgender rights in states across the country.
Elon Musk married Canadian author Justine Wilson in January 2000. In 2002, they welcomed their son Nevada Alexander Musk.
Sadly, Nevada died of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, at only ten weeks old.
According to Xavier, part of the reason that she wants to change her name is to distance herself from her biological father, who has been accused of having transphobic views over the past several years.
Elon Musk Has been criticized for being transphobic in the past.
ELON MUSK ON TRANSGENDER
In a series of tweets dated December 2020, the Tesla founder reportedly mocked people who listed their pronouns in their online bios.
It would be recalled that Elon Musk was asked to apologize for his transphobic views. In one July 2020 tweet, Musk tweeted “pronouns suck,” but deleted the tweet after his then-partner, Canadian musician Grimes, confronted him about the tweet.
A few months later, in a series of tweets dated December 2020, the Tesla founder reportedly mocked people who listed their pronouns in their online bios.
Musk’s tweet read “when you put he/him in ur bio” alongside a cartoonish picture of a soldier rubbing his bloody hands on his face. The soldier is wearing a hat that says “I love to oppress.”
After Musk was criticized for the tweet, he defended himself by tweeting, “I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare.”
He then tweeted out that Tesla had the number one ranking on the Corporate Equality Index, which is an annual list of the best places for LGBTQ people to work.
The Human Rights Campaign, a charitable organization that tries to provide equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, called on Musk to apologize for mocking the use of pronouns.
“The Corporate Equality Index (CEI) is a comprehensive measurement of workplace non-discrimination policies, practices, and benefits critical to the full protection and inclusion of LGBTQ workers,” they wrote. “Tesla scored a 100 on the 2020 CEI based on this crucial foundation of inclusive non-discrimination policies and benefits.”
“No benchmarking tool can fully account for the day-to-day experiences of LGBTQ workers. The CEI criteria alone are necessary foundations for LGBTQ inclusion but do not represent the entirety of what it takes to ensure a fully inclusive and welcoming environment,” they continued. “The CEI is not a cover for poor personal behavior, and HRC condemns Musk’s tweets mocking pronouns.”
Ellon Musk
They concluded their statement, saying, “Musk’s insensitive comments stand completely contrary to what HRC’s Workplace Equality Program works with companies each day to create—providing employees a safe, inclusive, and fair work environment.”
American billionaire Elon Musk has threatened to pull out from the $44 billion twitter buyout, accusing the organization of hiding information of bot and spam accounts on the app.
In a letter signed and released by Musk through his lawyers, accused Twitter of refusing to hand over important data to them so as to allow him vet the organization’s user base and other vital information.
Twitter has long reported that about 5% of its users are bots.
Despite reaching a buy out agreement with Twitter ,Musk has always questioned the bot number provided and demands that he carries out his own personal verification before sealing the deal.
“Mr. Musk has made it clear that he does not believe the company’s lax testing methodologies are adequate so he must conduct his own analysis” to determine how many accounts are fake, lawyers representing Musk wrote in Monday’s letter. “The data he has requested is necessary to do so.”
The letter says that Twitter has “refused to provide the information that Mr. Musk has repeatedly requested since May 9, 2022.” Twitter has offered to explain its testing methodology to Musk, according to the letter, which calls is “tantamount to refusing” the data request.
According to the Musk, if Twitter does not hand over the data, he will consider it a “material breach” of the agreement and will walk out of the deal.
“Mr. Musk believes the company is actively resisting and thwarting his information rights (and the company’s corresponding obligations) under the merger agreement,” the letter says. Musk reserves the right “not to consummate the transaction and his right to terminate the merger agreement,” according to the letter.
Twitter shares fell 3% on Monday, to $38.83.
Last month, Musk said that the deal was “on hold” while he confirmed that the number of bots Twitter said were on the platform was accurate.
Following Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter, two of its top managers have been fired, as the company reports first-quarter earnings.
One Twitter General Manager, Kayvon Beykpour, is leaving after 7 years.
In a series of tweets on Thursday, Beykpour said CEO Parag Agrawal “asked me to leave after letting me know that he wants to take the team in a different direction.”
Kayvon Beykpour
Bruce Falck, Twitter’s revenue and product lead, was also fired, according to a tweet that has since been deleted. His Twitter bio now says “unemployed.”
“I dedicate this Tweet to those engineers and thank you ALL for the opportunity to serve alongside you. It’s been awesome. There is a lot more to do so get back to work, I can’t wait to see what you build,” Falck tweeted.
Bruce Falck
Twitter confirmed both departures and said the company is pausing most hiring and except for business critical roles. In addition, it said in a statement, “we are pulling back on non-labor costs to ensure we are being responsible and efficient.”
Beykpour was the general manager of consumer Twitter, leading design, research, product, engineering and customer service and operations teams, according to his Twitter bio.
A co-founder of the live streaming app Periscope, Beykpour joined Twitter when the social media company bought his startup in 2015.
“I hope and expect that Twitter’s best days are still ahead of it. Twitter is one of the most important, unique and impactful products in the world. With the right nurturing and stewardship, that impact will only grow,” he said on Twitter.
Beykpour did not immediately respond to a message for comment.
In a memo sent to employees and confirmed by Twitter, Agrawal said Twitter has not hit growthTwitter has not hit growth and revenue milestones after the company began to invest “aggressively” to expand its user base and revenue.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that Shares of San Francisco-based Twitter slipped 86 cents to $45.23 midday Thursday, more than 20% below Musk’s offer price of $54.20 per share.
United States billionaire Elon Musk has assured European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton that he will comply with new EU content moderation rules ahead of his impending takeover of Twitter.
“I agree with everything you said, really. I think we’re very much at the same mind,’’ Musk said in a video with Breton published on Twitter in Texas.
Breton met with the Tesla CEO at a factory manufacturing his electric vehicles ahead of EU-U.S. talks to coordinate industry regulations.
Musk’s decision to purchase Twitter has prompted concerns in the EU about regulatory compliance over disinformation and harmful content if the company was taken private by a single owner.
However, Breton has previously said he did not see any enforcement issues even if Twitter was solely in Musk’s hands.
“Any company in the EU will have to meet our obligations, it’s as simple as that,’’ he told dpa in an interview in April.
Breton was referring to the recently passed Digital Services Act (DSA), which defined the responsibilities of technology and internet companies and provided for stricter supervision of online platforms.
Those who do not comply with the new rules could face fines of up to 6 per cent of their worldwide annual turnover.
The Twitter board accepted Musk’s bid to purchase the social media platform for 44 billion dollars (42 billion euros) in April.
The transaction was to be completed by year-end, subject to shareholder approval.
World richest man, Elon Musk, has given reason why he is okay with going to hell.
Musk, who is the chief executive officer of Tesla and SpaceX, gave the reason on his official Twitter page on Monday, 9th May, 2022 while responding to a Tweep.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that the billionaire had made a disturbing post about his possible demise which had caused quite a stir online.
A Twitter user had appealed to him to profess his belief in the supreme creator of the universe before his heart beats it’s last.
Replying to this, Musk appreciated the Tweep’s kind words but stated that he’d be fine with going to the hell, if that’s where his destination is.
“If I die under mysterious circumstances, it’s been nice knowin ya,” Elon had tweeted in the early hours of Monday.
Reports say Elon’s tweet comes after the former Russian Deputy PM, Dmitry Rogozin, sent a false information about him to the Russian media.
It was also reportedly said that the billionaire tech guru was accused of supporting fascism in Ukraine by supplying military communication equipment to the war-torn country through his company, Starlink, amid ongoing war.
Meanwhile, Musk’s tweet about his death has continued to cause tension and uncertainty online.
His mother, Maye Musk, also took to Twitter to react to the tweet, noting that it wasn’t funny.
Musk replied: “Sorry I will try my best to stay alive.”
Tesla and SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, has taken to Twitter and shared what rather seem to be a prediction about his death.
Taking to the micro-blogging platform, which he recently bought for $44 Billion in the early hours of Monday, May 9, Musk sounded his own death knell about dying under mysterious circumstances.
“If I die under mysterious circumstances, it’s been nice knowin ya,” Musk tweeted.
Reports say, the Twitter papa shared this tweet after he alleged that the former Russian Deputy PM, Dmitry Rogozin, sent false information about him to the Russian media.
It was alleged that Musk had supplied some military communication equipment to Ukraine through his company, Starlink, amid the ongoing war with Russia.
Rogozin had posted: “According to our information, the delivery of Starlink equipment was carried out by the pentagon. Elon Musk, thus, is involved in supplying fascist forces in Ukraine with military communication equipment.”
Musk’s tweet about his death stirred up panic on social media with his own mother, Maye Musk, obviously scared about his son’s life.
The matriarch of the Musks also took to Twitter to express, the tweet was “not funny”, to which, Musk apologised and said he will try his best to stay alive.
“Sorry, I will do my best to stay alive,” Musk tried to calm mum’s frayed nerves.
Elon Reeve Musk FRS is an entrepreneur, investor, and business magnate. He is the founder, CEO, and Chief Engineer at SpaceX; angel investor, CEO, and Product Architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; and co-founder of Neuralink and OpenAI.
The latest feather to his already saturated cap was when he recently bought Twitter for $44bn after much back and forth with Twitter’s Board.
Listing reasons, he bought the social media platform, the richest man on earth claimed, he bought Twitter to defend democracy and to protect freedom of expression.
Interestingly, the world’s richest then came forward just recently with another stunt, saying, that people may have to pay to use the social platform. Take a look at this TNG report.
Commenting on the buy, Andrew Mitrovica, one columnist on Aljazeera described: “Musk may be a ‘visionary’ and a fabulous huckster, but he is a lousy fibber.”
Mitrovica continued: “There are no benevolent plutocrats.”
“Musk has got to get a return on his mammoth investment. If he doesn’t, he will lose money. Plutocrats do not like losing money.”
“Musk is buying Twitter for $44bn not only because he is one of a few white men who can raise that astounding amount of money, but to feed his narcissism. It is the same corrosive strain of narcissism that made me stay on Twitter for as long as I did before I had a belated epiphany,” the columnist concluded.
Twitter latest owner and world’s richest person, Elon Musk has notified, he shall fund his twitter deal with money from countries that suppress free speech.
You would recall that when Musk announced his bid to buy Twitter last month, he said he wanted to make the social network a free speech haven.
Now, the billionaire, reportedly, plans to accept financing Twitter from two countries that have historically restricted freedom of speech: Saudi Arabia and Qatar as well as every other government who would simulate threats to freedom of expression.
Note that Saudi Arabia ranks number 166 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index, while Qatar ranks number 119, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Both countries have been notorious for imposing harsh censorship to quash dissent: A Qatari law states that spreading “false or malicious news” can land you in prison for five years, while in Saudi Arabia, critics of the government have faced arrest and even murder.
Interestingly, Saudi Prince Alwaleed wrote on Twitter that the Kingdom Holding Company, an investment firm he controls, would roll over its current $1.9 billion investment in Twitter to join Musk on “this exciting journey.” The move came after Alwaleed spurned Musk’s plan in a tweet last month, saying the Tesla CEO’s offer didn’t come close to the “intrinsic value” of the company. KHC has been a Twitter stakeholder since 2011.
Musk responded by asking about the size of the Kingdom’s stake in Twitter, as well as the country’s views on “journalistic freedom of speech.”
Permit us to remind you that Saudi Arabia has been frequently criticised for censorship and human rights abuses, including the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudi government has denied any involvement by its leaders.
The prince didn’t publicly answer Musk’s questions, but in his tweet Thursday called Musk a “‘new’ friend” and “excellent leader.”
It will be recalled that last year, the Qatari government arrested seven people for using social media “to spread false news” during its elections. The country also has a history of suppressing free speech. In 2012, a Qatari poet was sentenced to 15 years in jail after reciting a poem critical of the government.
Here in Nigeria, Nigerians would forever remember how the Buhari administration suspended Twitter access after the president’s tweet was deleted.
But the information minister, Lai Mohammed quickly swung to action, blaming the use of the platform for ‘activities capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.’
After many months of the ban, Buhari disclosed in his nationwide broadcast to Nigerians, marking the nation’s 61st independence and warned that Twitter ban would be lifted if Nigerians use the platform for business and positive engagements only.
“…Rather some users have misused the platform to organise, coordinate, and execute criminal activities, propagate fake news, and promote ethnic and religious sentiments,” he said.
“To address these negative trends, the Federal Government of Nigeria suspended the operations of Twitter in Nigeria on June 5, 2021 to allow the Government put measures in place to address these challenges.”
Finally, the ban was lifted but with a more stringent conditions gagging free speech as twitter was now expected to “respect Nigeria’s sovereignty, cultural values and promote online safety.”
