Musk lines up $7.1B in investor financing for Twitter bid
The infusion adds heft to the Tesla chief’s offer and eases some of the financial pressure he’s taken on in pursuit of the social media platform.
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Elon Musk spoke of possible Twitter job cuts with bankers
Musk also brought up several ideas to boost revenue for the company, such as paying “influencers” to create content, following a business model that helped make TikTok a powerhouse social media app.
UPDATE: Elon Musk buying Twitter for $44B, plans to privatize company
The outspoken Tesla CEO, who is also the world’s wealthiest person, has said he wanted to buy and privatize Twitter because he thinks it’s not living up to its potential as a platform for free speech.
New banners encourage you to weigh in on downtown’s future
The city of Indianapolis and GangGang cultural firm are using the hashtag #DowntownIndy to seek feedback on social media platforms.
Twitter adopts ‘poison pill’ defense in Musk takeover bid
Twitter’s plan would take effect if Musk’s roughly 9% stake grows to 15% or more. Even then, Musk could still take over the company with a proxy fight by voting out the current directors.
Inside Twitter, Elon Musk’s bid prompts employee worries, exasperation
CEO Parag Agrawal held a companywide meeting to reassure his 7,500 full-time employee workforce by arguing that one man could not change a culture and that it was up to the company to set strategy
Tesla CEO Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter
Musk has been a vocal critic of Twitter in recent weeks, mostly over his belief that it falls short on free speech principles. He now says, “Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”
Suddenly, Twitter’s biggest stakeholder is Tesla’s Elon Musk
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey stepped down as CEO in November. Musk’s stake in Twitter is now more than four times the size of Dorsey’s, who had been the largest individual shareholder.
Elon Musk takes 9.2% stake in Twitter; shares skyrocket
Twitter shares exploded 26% in premarket trading after the Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed that Musk snapped up more than 73 million shares, valued at $2.89 billion.
Facebook to shut down face-recognition system, delete data
More than a third of Facebook’s daily active users have opted in to have their faces recognized by the social network’s system. That’s about 640 million people.
Twitter suspends Indiana Rep. Jim Banks’ official account
Twitter’s action Saturday came after Republican Rep. Jim Banks posted tweets last week regarding Dr. Rachel Levine’s becoming the first openly transgender four-star officer in the U.S. uniformed services. Levine is also the nation’s assistant secretary of health.
Facebook to pay more than $14M in U.S. settlement over discrimination against workers
Facebook has agreed to pay penalties over findings that the company’s hiring practices intentionally discriminated against Americans in favor of foreign workers, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
Outage highlights how vital Facebook has become worldwide
The six-hour outage at Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp was a headache for many casual users but far more serious for millions of people worldwide who rely on the sites to run their businesses or communicate with relatives, fellow parents, teachers or neighbors.
Ex-Facebook employee says products harm children, fuel division
A former Facebook data scientist testified to the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection. She is accusing the company of being aware of apparent harm to some teens from Instagram and being dishonest in its public fight against hate and misinformation.
Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram suffer worldwide outage
The impact was major for multitudes of Facebook’s nearly 3 billion users, showing just how much the world has come to rely on it and its properties—to run businesses, connect with online communities, log on to multiple other websites and even order food.
Trump files suit against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
Former President Donald Trump has filed lawsuits against three of the country’s biggest tech companies, claiming he and other conservatives have been wrongfully censored.
Judge dismisses government antitrust lawsuits against Facebook
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled Monday that the lawsuits were “legally insufficient” and didn’t provide enough evidence to prove that Facebook was a monopoly.
House panel pushes legislation targeting Big Tech’s power
The ambitious legislation could curb the market power of tech giants Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple and force them to sever their dominant platforms from their other lines of business.
Biden elevates energetic critic of Big Tech as top regulator
The selection of legal scholar Lina Khan, 32, to head the Federal Trade Commission is seen as signaling a tough stance toward tech giants Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple.
Indy-area tech community still wrestling with diversity, equity, inclusion
Discussion and debate at Friday’s IBJ Tech Power Panel event focused largely on how companies can do a better job recruiting and hiring diverse employees, as well as the ability of diverse entrepreneurs to raise venture and growth capital from a cadre of investors who largely remain white and male.