Twitter file for stock delisting
Twitter has filed to delist its shares as the world’s richest man Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover is finalized.
It filed to withdraw shares from the New York Stock Exchange as its new owner takes the company private, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
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As the deal was finalized, Musk tweeted in the last hour:
Twitter file for stock delisting
Twitter has filed to delist its shares as the world’s richest man Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover is finalized.
It filed to withdraw shares from the New York Stock Exchange as its new owner takes the company private, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
The Guardian’s Joan Donovan recently read Why do the super rich buy social media sites? From Trump to Kanye and Musk.
Tech CEOs have become the most important political gatekeepers in the history of modern media. Not by running for office—a cliché of today’s wealthy elite—but by using social media ownership as a proxy for political influence.
This has been the trend for many years. From the political generosity of former Facebook executives like Sheryl Sandberg and Joel Kaplan to the metapolitics of Peter Thiel, tech giants have long used an internal/external playbook to conduct politics through other means.
Rapper Kanye West is one of the people banned from Twitter (in his case, he posted a series of anti-Semitic tweets), they can return to the platform below Elon Musk.
If entrepreneurs choose to restore their Twitter accounts, Donald Trump Possible comeback with American conspiracy theorists Alex Jonesright-wing commentator Katie Hopkins and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
The Daily Telegraph has compiled a list of those who could make a comeback.
Lunch time summary
While we await more news on the Twitter deal, here’s a rundown of the rest of today’s news.
European shares were lower, with the pound down 0.1% but still above $1.15.
American oil major Exxon Mobil and Chevron Profits announced, dwarfed by shellof $9.5 billion.Texas-based Exxon’s third-quarter profit tripled to nearly $20 billion, nearly matching apple, compared with $11.2 billion for Chevron. President Joe Biden slams Exxon for making ‘more money than God’ over the summer.
Profits at the world’s largest oil companies have soared to nearly £150bn so far this year, analysts estimate, as Russia’s war on Ukraine has pushed up energy prices.
This German economy A surprising 0.3% growth in the July-September quarter defied fears of a recession. It barely managed 0.1% growth in the last quarter.
profit before tax National Western Group The July-September period remained flat at £1.1bn as the bank forecast UK house prices to fall 7% next year, as the economic outlook deteriorated and the cost of living for customers tightened.
This UK’s largest gas storage facility It could be one of the harshest winters in years for energy suppliers trying to meet demand.
Kanye West said he lost $2 billion in a single day this week after losing several key partners over his anti-Semitic remarks.
The $44 billion Twitter deal is expected to be announced at 2:30 p.m. on Wall Street.
Elon Musk explains why he’s buying the social media company here:
Musk expected to speak to Twitter employees today
Elon Musk Expect to speak to Twitter employees later today as he completes a $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform.
Leslie BolandTwitter’s chief marketing officer sent a memo to employees on Wednesday saying he would visit the company’s headquarters this week, according to Bloomberg.
“Elon met with people in the San Francisco office this week, walked the halls, and continued to immerse himself in the important work you all do,” Burland wrote in the memo. “For everyone else, this is just the beginning of a meeting and a conversation with Elon, and you’ll all hear from him directly on Friday.”
Musk threatened to cut 75% of his workforce, or about 7,500 people in total, according to Time magazine, and Twitter employees sent an open letter to him and the board earlier this week.
“We demand transparent, timely and thoughtful communication around our working conditions,” the letter read. “We demand that we be treated with dignity and not be seen as mere pawns in the billionaire game.”
Here’s some analysis of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition from my colleagues Kari Paul and Alex Hern:
As Elon Musk completes his takeover of Twitter, hate speech and misinformation experts are gearing up for Donald Trump’s return to the platform.
The social media site permanently removed Trump in January 2021, saying the former president’s tweets “have a high likelihood of encouraging and motivating people to replicate the crimes that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Earlier this year, however, Musk said he would rescind the ban, calling Twitter “leaning to the left,” and he reportedly fired the executive in charge on Thursday.
“I do think it’s incorrect to ban Donald Trump,” Tesla’s chief executive told a Financial Times conference in May. “I think it was a mistake. It alienated the country and didn’t leave Donald Trump without a voice. I think it was a morally wrong decision, extremely stupid.”
Elliott HigginsFounder and Creative Director BellingcatThe Netherlands-based investigative journalism group said Twitter’s failure to regulate itself would lead to stricter government regulations on all social media companies.
Twitter’s lack of self-regulation only increases the likelihood that governments will regulate all social media, it’s that simple.
— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) October 28, 2022
Is there an explanation for why suddenly there are many accounts whose follower counts drop overnight? Will Twitter get some bans before the Musk era begins?
— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) October 28, 2022
In 2007, Bobbie Johnson, a former London-based technology reporter for The Guardian, attempted to answer the questions many Britons were asking about the new “microblogging” site from the US, which caused a huge buzz: “What is Twitter, and what should I care about? Reason?”
In an article he wrote for the paper’s technical supplement (unearthed by Jason Rodriguez of the Guardian Research and Information Division), he said of Twitter: “At first glance, this is a puzzling and seemingly Pointless service – but it turns out to be fun, useful and addictive. Those who live on the move”. You can read the full article here.
Ironically, debate over Twitter’s future after being bought by world’s richest man Elon Musk It’s happening on social media platforms – where else?
American lawyer Tristan Snell Tweeted this morning:
People don’t leave Twitter in droves. The drop in follower counts happened suddenly — it was a bot cleanup, not a real human exit.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) October 28, 2022
Senior EU official: ‘In Europe, this bird will fly by our rules’
Concerned that Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter and his stance as a “free speech absolutist” could turn it into a platform for hate speech, Thierry BretonThe EU Commissioner for the Internal Market has stepped in.
In response to Musk’s tweet, he said:
He used the hashtag DSA – a reference to the Digital Services Act, one of two new EU legislation aimed at tightening regulation of social media.
Guy Verhofstadta former Belgian prime minister serving in the European Parliament (and former chief Brexit negotiator in the European Parliament) said:
so one person @elonmusk Now with the biggest debate in the world…
Rules and accountability are needed more than ever!
Self-regulation in social media never worked…even if the role was less than his pic.twitter.com/h7LYYxVo4W
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) October 28, 2022
American multimedia journalist and novelist David Levitt said:
Hundreds of people use the N-word and rampant hate speech on Twitter every minute after buying Elon pic.twitter.com/uAqnZJuwjW
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) October 28, 2022
If you type the n-word or holocaust in the search bar and click latest, you can view and report racists coming out of woodwork after Elon Musk’s live-buying tweet.
But will Twitter do anything about it?
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) October 28, 2022