Elon Musk’s request to scrap a settlement with securities regulators over 2018 tweets claiming he had the funding to take Tesla private was denied by a federal judge in New York.

Judge Lewis Liman on Wednesday also denied a motion to nullify subpoenas of Musk seeking information about possible violations of his settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Musk had asked the court to throw out the settlement, which required that his tweets be approved by a Tesla attorney. The SEC is investigating whether the Tesla CEO violated the settlement with tweets last November asking Twitter followers if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock.

The whole dispute stems from an October 2018 agreement with the SEC in which Musk and Tesla each agreed to pay $20 million in civil fines over Musk’s tweets about having the money to take Tesla private at $420 per share.

The funding was far from secured and the electric vehicle company remains public, but Tesla’s stock price jumped. The settlement specified governance changes, including Musk’s ouster as board chairman, as well as pre-approval of his tweets.

Musk attorney Alex Spiro contended in court motions that the SEC was trampling on Musk’s right to free speech.
…

your ads here!

California-based Google wants to get a bigger share of Africa’s growing online population, which is expected to top 800 million by 2030. 

 

The internet search giant announced this month it is setting up its first product development center on the continent, to be based in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. It is scheduled to open next year and will employ more than 100 people. 

Charles Murito, head of government affairs and public policy for sub-Saharan Africa at Google, said the investment will create many opportunities within Africa’s tech sector.   

“The product development center is going to be one that works to create transformative products and services for people right here on the continent, as well as creating a product for the rest of the world,” he said. “So the announcement last week was really just a kick-off in terms of the hiring process for the people that are going to be working in this product development center for Africa. And that will include roles such as product managers, UX designers and researchers, and engineers, and this is really a starting point of the work we are going to be doing.” 

The multinational technology company said its mission is to make the world’s information universally accessible and create a product that works well for Africans. 

 

Bitange Ndemo, former principal secretary of Kenya’s information, communication, and technology ministry, said the government needs to train more of its youth to benefit from the Google center. 

“It’s a wonderful investment in the sense that it’s going to help reduce the problem of unemployment in this country, but what that tells the Kenyan government is they must begin to invest in skilling and reskilling young people so that they can meet the demand. Already the demand for such skills exceeds supply locally,” he said. 

Google has trained over 80,000 certified developers from Africa in the past few years. 

 

The firm is investing $1 billion in projects over the next five years to help with the development of Africa internet economy. 

 

Murito said the investment will transform Africa. 

“It’s the opportunity around creating products that work best for Africans at large and, therefore, whether you are thinking about products on financial inclusion or other sectors of the economy, we believe that by having a product development center right here on the continent, we will be able to know firsthand what challenges are and also be able to create products that will service and solve some of those challenges,” he said. 

Microsoft has also invested in Kenya, hiring hundreds of engineers from the East African nation. 

 

The continent comes with its own challenges for businesses because some countries lack good governance and the rule of law and that creates an uncertain environment for investments. Some nations have turned off the internet to silence their citizens. 

 

Murito said his organization works with African governments to encourage innovation and develop policies that will sustain innovation. 

 
…

your ads here!

Many of the technological advances in lithium ion batteries that now power many electric vehicles began in a laboratory just outside Chicago’s city limits decades ago.  VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports on new innovations at Argonne National Laboratory preparing for the next-generation needs of drivers.
Camera: Kane Farabaugh, Mike Burke   
Produced by: Kane Farabaugh   
…

your ads here!

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to buy Twitter Monday met mixed reactions as observers speculated how digital speech on the service might change under his leadership. 

Musk, a prolific Twitter user who has criticized Twitter’s management in tweets, said in the press release Monday announcing the deal that “Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”   

Musk’s takeover of Twitter was applauded by some U.S. conservatives who have alleged that internet firms — including Twitter — promote a liberal political agenda and suppress conservative voices. 

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, tweeted that it’s “amazing to watch the Left panic at the prospect of free speech on Twitter.”  

  

But others expressed concern that Musk’s takeover would mean less moderation of hate speech and misinformation on the site.   

Sumayyah Waheed, senior policy counsel with Muslim Advocates, a national civil rights organization, told VOA that Twitter doesn’t have a good track record of taking down hateful speech against Muslims. 

“We already face threats and regular harassment on Twitter, and a weaker content moderation system will just make that even worse,” she said.  

 

Twitter, with more than 400 million monthly active users, has a smaller audience than Facebook, with 3 billion users, and YouTube, with over 2 billion.   

Twitter is primarily used in the U.S. and Western Europe, where it is influential among journalists, political leaders, celebrities and other thought leaders. Because powerful people use Twitter, it has an outsized influence, observers say.  

Twitter allows people to post anonymously and is credited with helping marginalized voices around the world speak. Musk has talked recently of wanting to “authenticate all real humans” on the site, raising concerns among digital rights advocates that Twitter will require accounts to be tied to a person’s identity.  

Twitter under Musk 

Michael Posner, director of the New York University Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, said that Musk’s statements about free speech “are not very well developed.”  

“We have to hope that once he gets into the driver’s seat, he understands that social media platforms need to be moderated by people who own them and run them,” he told VOA. “A site where content moderation is not taken seriously is going to yield spam, pornography, hate speech and disinformation, and all kinds of things that are not good for society.”  

Emerson Brooking, a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council, a U.S. think tank, said Twitter will probably change under the new leadership.  

“Musk’s absolutist view of freedom of speech, his unfamiliarity with the challenges that many people face around the world in expressing their political points of view, these two things are going to clash,” he said in an interview with VOA. “And I expect that the Twitter of the future will look quite a bit different and quite a bit less inviting for many people.”   

Concentration of power 

Evan Greer, director of the digital rights organization Fight for the Future, said Musk’s acquisition exposes another issue: A handful of companies have a monopoly on “what can be seen, heard and done online,” she said. 

“If we want a future of free speech, it’s not a future where the richest person on Earth can purchase a platform that millions of people depend on and then change the rules to his liking,” she said in an interview with VOA.  

There’s been speculation that under Musk, former President Donald Trump, whom Twitter banned permanently in 2021, could return to the site. But Trump told Fox News prior to the announcement of the deal Monday that while he hoped that Musk would buy Twitter, he would not return to the service. Instead, he will join his own social media site, Truth Social, he said. 

For his part, Musk appeared to acknowledge the varied reactions about his new role, tweeting Monday: “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.” 

 

 

 
…

your ads here!

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal told employees Monday that he is uncertain of the direction the company will go after Tesla CEO Elon Musk takes over.    

Musk reached an agreement Monday to buy Twitter for $44 billion, promising to make the platform more supportive of free speech. The move has raised questions about how far Twitter will go to relax restrictions on users’ speech and led critics to fear new policies would make it easier for people to spread disinformation and hate speech. 

Agrawal answered employee questions Monday in a town hall that was heard by Reuters.    

The news agency reported that Agrawal told employees, “Once the deal closes, we don’t know which direction the platform will go.” The CEO was answering a question about whether former President Donald Trump would be allowed to rejoin Twitter despite his permanent suspension.  

“I believe when we have an opportunity to speak with Elon, it’s a question we should address with him,” Agrawal said.  

Twitter banned Trump after the U.S. Capitol was stormed on January 6, 2021, citing a risk of more violence.  

Musk has proposed relaxing the type of content restrictions that led Twitter to suspend the former president’s account.     

Musk, who is also CEO of rocket developer SpaceX, has said Twitter needs to become a private company so that it can realize its potential for free speech. He has described himself as a “free-speech absolutist.”     

Reuters reported that Agrawal deferred many staff questions to Musk, who he said would join Twitter staff for a question-and-answer session at a later date. 

Agrawal also told employees there were no plans for layoffs. 

Musk said in a securities filing this month that he did not have confidence in Twitter’s management.  

He said in a statement Monday that “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”   

Some information in this report came from Reuters. 

 
…

your ads here!

The first all-private astronaut team ever flown aboard the International Space Station (ISS) safely splashed down in the Atlantic off Florida’s coast on Monday, concluding a two-week science mission hailed as a landmark in commercialized human spaceflight.  

The SpaceX crew capsule carrying the four-man team, led by a retired NASA astronaut who is now vice president of the Texas company behind the mission, Axiom Space, parachuted into the sea after a 16-hour descent from orbit. 

The splashdown capped the latest, and most ambitious, in a recent series of rocket-powered expeditions bankrolled by private investment capital and wealthy passengers rather than taxpayer dollars six decades after the dawn of the space age. 

The mission’s crew was assembled, equipped and trained entirely at private expense by Axiom, a five-year-old venture based in Houston and headed by NASA’s former ISS program manager. Axiom also has contracted with NASA to build the first commercial addition to and ultimate replacement of the space station. 

SpaceX, the launch service founded by Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, supplied the Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule that carried Axiom’s team to and from orbit, controlled the flight and handled the splashdown recovery. 

NASA, which has encouraged the further commercialization of space travel, furnished the launch site at its Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and assumed responsibility for the Axiom crew while they were aboard the space station. The U.S. space agency’s ISS crew members also pitched in to assist the private astronauts when needed. 

The multinational Axiom team was led by Spanish-born retired NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, 63, the company’s vice president for business development. His second-in-command was Larry Connor, 72, a technology entrepreneur and aerobatics aviator from Ohio designated the mission pilot. 

Joining them as “mission specialists” were investor-philanthropist and former Israeli fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe, 64, and Canadian businessman and philanthropist Mark Pathy, 52.  

Connor, Stibbe and Pathy flew as customers of Axiom, which charges $50 million to $60 million per seat for such flights, according to Mo Islam, head of research for the investment firm Republic Capital, which holds stakes in both Axiom and SpaceX. 

Fiery reentry 

The splashdown, carried live by an Axiom-SpaceX webcast, was originally planned for last Wednesday, but the return flight was delayed, and the mission was extended to about a week due to windy weather. The potential costs of such an extension were factored into Axiom’s contracts with NASA and its customers, so none of the parties bore any additional charges, the company said. 

The return from orbit followed a reentry plunge through Earth’s atmosphere generating frictional heat that sends temperatures surrounding the outside of the capsule soaring to 1,927 degrees Celsius. 

Applause was heard from the SpaceX flight control center in suburban Los Angeles as parachutes billowed open above the capsule in the final stage of its descent — slowing its fall to about 24 kilometers per hour — and again as the craft hit the water off the coast of Jacksonville. 

In less than an hour, the heat-scorched Crew Dragon was hoisted onto a recovery ship before the capsule’s side hatch was opened and the four astronauts, garbed in helmeted white-and-black spacesuits, were helped out one by one onto the deck. All were visibly unsteady on their feet from over two weeks spent in a weightless environment. 

Each received a quick onboard checkup before they were flown back to Florida for more thorough medical evaluations. 

“Everybody looks great and is doing reasonably well,” Axiom operations director Derek Hassmann told a post-splashdown news briefing, describing the astronauts as being “in great spirits.”  

‘Low-Earth orbit economy’ 

Axiom, SpaceX, and NASA have touted the occasion as a milestone in the expansion of privately funded space-based commerce, constituting what industry insiders call the “low-Earth orbit economy,” or “LEO economy” for short. 

“We proved that we can prepare the crew in a way that makes them effective and productive in orbit,” Hassmann said. “What it demonstrates to the world is that there is a new avenue to get to low-Earth orbit.” 

Launched on April 8, the Axiom team spent 17 days in orbit, 15 of those aboard the space station with the seven regular, government-paid ISS crew members: three American astronauts, a German astronaut and three Russian cosmonauts. 

The ISS has hosted several wealthy space tourists from time to time over the years. 

But the Axiom quartet was the first all-commercial team ever welcomed to the space station as working astronauts, bringing with them 25 science and biomedical experiments to conduct in orbit. The package included research on brain health, cardiac stem cells, cancer and aging, as well as a technology demonstration to produce optics using the surface tension of fluids in microgravity. 

It was the sixth human spaceflight for SpaceX in nearly two years, following four NASA astronaut missions to the ISS and the “Inspiration 4” flight in September that sent an all-private crew into Earth orbit for the first time, though not to the space station. 

SpaceX has been hired to fly three more Axiom astronaut missions to ISS over the next two years. 
…

your ads here!

Tesla CEO Elon Musk reached an agreement Monday to buy Twitter for $44 billion cash. 

The sale will transform the social media giant from a publicly traded company to a privately held one, owned solely by Musk, the world’s richest person. 

Discussions over the deal accelerated after Musk unveiled a financing package last week to back the acquisition.   

Twitter shares were up more than 5% in trading Monday afternoon.   

Musk, who is also CEO of rocket developer SpaceX, has said Twitter needs to become a private company so that it can realize its potential for free speech. He has described himself as a “free-speech absolutist.”  

The businessman, who is a prolific tweeter with more than 83 million followers, tweeted Monday, “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.”  

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet Monday, “Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world.” 

“Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important,” he added. 

Musk has proposed relaxing Twitter’s content restrictions, which could include rules that suspended former President Donald Trump’s account.   

Earlier Monday, Republicans cheered news that Musk was close to reaching a deal with Twitter.  

“Hey, @elonmusk it’s a great week to free @realDonaldTrump,” tweeted the House Republican Conference.  

Twitter banned Trump’s account after the U.S. Capitol was stormed on Jan. 6, 2021, citing a risk of more violence. 

Musk is the world’s richest person according to Forbes magazine, with a nearly $279 billion fortune.  

Some information in this report comes from the Associated Pres and Reuters. 

 
…

your ads here!

According to papers filed with U.S. securities regulators, billionaire Elon Musk appears ready to continue his bid to take over Twitter, this time via a tender offer that would bypass the company’s board and offer to buy stock directly from shareholders. 

Twitter’s board of directors last week voted unanimously to use a tactic called a “poison pill” to fend off Musk’s attempt to acquire the company. 

The papers show Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has secured $46.5 billion in financing for the offer of $54.20 per share. 

Twitter “is committed to conducting a careful, comprehensive and deliberate review to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders,” the company said in a statement Thursday. 

The news only shows Musk could go forward with a tender offer, but apparently no decision has been made.  

In addition to Musk, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Bank of America, Societie Generale, Mizuho Bank, BNP Paribas and MUFG could be involved in the deal. 

They have reportedly agreed to finance $25.5 billion of the deal while Musk could cover the rest. 

Twitter stock was trading flat on the development. 

Under the poison pill plan, all Twitter shareholders except Musk could buy more shares at a discount. This would dilute the world’s richest person’s stake in the company and prevent him from recruiting a majority of shareholders supporting his move. 

If Musk’s ownership in Twitter grows to 15% or more, the poison pill would go into effect. 

Last week, Musk, who was revealed as the company’s largest individual shareholder, with 9.2% of the shares, later offered more than $43 billion, or $54.20 per share, to purchase the entire company. 

Musk’s offer would provide a substantial premium over Twitter’s current stock price. 

When Musk made his offer, he lamented the company’s stance on free speech. 

“I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk said in the filing. “I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form.” 

Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press. 

 
…

your ads here!

A group of Tesla shareholders suing CEO Elon Musk over some 2018 tweets about taking the company private is asking a federal judge to order Musk to stop commenting on the case. 

Lawyers for stockholders of the Austin, Texas-based company also say in court documents that the judge in the case has ruled that Musk’s tweets about having “funding secured” to take Tesla private were false, and that his comments also violate a 2018 court settlement with U.S. securities regulators in which Musk and Tesla each agreed to pay $20 million fines. 

Musk, during an interview April 14 at the TED 2022 conference, said he had the funding to take Tesla private in 2018. He called the Securities and Exchange Commission a profane name and said he only settled because bankers told him they would stop providing capital if he didn’t, and Tesla would go bankrupt. 

The interview and court action came just days after Musk, the world’s richest person, made a controversial offer to take over Twitter and turn it into a private company with a $43 billion offer that equals $54.20 per share. Twitter’s board on April 15 adopted a “poison pill” strategy that would make it prohibitively expensive for Musk to buy the shares. 

In court documents filed April 15, lawyers for the Tesla shareholders alleged that Musk is trying to influence potential jurors in the lawsuit. They contend that Musk’s 2018 tweets about having the money to take Tesla private at $420 per share were written to manipulate the stock price, costing shareholders money. 

Now, lawyers say Musk is campaigning to influence possible jurors as the case gets closer to trial. 

“Musk’s comments risk confusing potential jurors with the false narrative that he did not knowingly make misrepresentations with his Aug. 7, 2018, tweets,” the lawyers wrote. “His present statements on that issue, an unsubtle attempt to absolve himself in the court of public opinion, will only have a prejudicial influence on a jury.” 

The lawyers asked Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco to restrain Musk from making further public comments on the issue until after the trial. Chen gave Musk’s lawyers until April 20 to respond. 

Alex Spiro, a lawyer representing Musk, wrote in an email April 17 that the plaintiffs’ lawyers are seeking a big payout. “Nothing will ever change the truth, which is that Elon Musk was considering taking Tesla private and could have,” he wrote. “All that’s left some half-decade later is random plaintiffs lawyers trying to make a buck and others trying to block that truth from coming to light, all to the detriment of free speech.” 

But the shareholders’ lawyers wrote that Chen already ruled that Musk’s tweets were false and misleading, and “that no reasonable juror could conclude otherwise.” 

Judge Chen’s order, issued April 1, was not in the public court file as of April 17.  Adam Apton, a lawyer for the shareholders, said it was sealed because it has evidence that Musk and Tesla say is confidential. It will stay sealed until the parties agree if anything should remain sealed, he wrote in an email. “Our motion for TRO (temporary restraining order) accurately describes the issues decided by the court,” Apton wrote. 

After Musk’s 2018 tweets, the SEC filed a complaint against him alleging securities law violations. Musk then agreed to the fine and signed the court agreement. Part of the agreement says that Musk “will not take any action or make or permit to be made any public statement denying, directly or indirectly, any allegation in the complaint or creating the impression that the complaint is without factual basis.” 

If Musk violates the agreement, the SEC may ask the court to scrap it and restore the securities fraud complaint, the agreement says. A message was left April 17 seeking comment from the SEC. 

Spiro, on behalf of Musk, already has asked a Manhattan federal court to throw out the agreement. He contends the SEC is using the pact and “near limitless resources” to chill Musk’s speech. Court documents filed by Spiro say Musk signed the agreement when Tesla was a less mature company and SEC action jeopardized its financing. 
…

your ads here!

A classified satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office was launched into space from California on Sunday. 

The NROL-85 satellite lifted off at 6:13 a.m. local time from Vandenberg Space Force Base aboard a two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. 

It was the first mission by the NRO to reuse a SpaceX rocket booster, Vandenberg said in a statement. 

The Falcon’s first stage flew back and landed at the seaside base northwest of Los Angeles. 

The NRO only described the NROL-85 satellite as a “critical national security payload.” 

Its launch was one of three awarded by the Air Force to SpaceX in 2019 for a combined fixed price of $297 million. 

The NRO is the government agency in charge of developing, building, launching and maintaining U.S. satellites that provide intelligence data to senior policymakers, the intelligence community and the Defense Department. 
…

your ads here!

Russia is clamping down on news and the internet. Overseas media organizations and activists are finding new ways in.
…

your ads here!

Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. officials warned about cyberattacks originating in Russia against critical American infrastructure. Now, U.S. security agencies are increasingly cracking down on the networks used by cybercriminals, including for ransomware attacks. Dino Jahic has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. 
…

your ads here!

Twitter’s board of directors on Friday voted unanimously to use a tactic called a “poison pill” to fend off Elon Musk’s attempt to take over the company.

In such a defensive tactic, all Twitter shareholders except Musk could buy more shares at a discount. This would dilute the world’s richest person’s stake in the company and prevent him from recruiting a majority of shareholders supporting his move.

If Musk’s ownership in Twitter grows to 15% or more, the poison pill would go into effect.

Musk, who earlier this week was revealed as the company’s largest individual shareholder, with 9.2% of the shares, later offered more than $43 billion, or $54.20 a share, to purchase the entire company.

Musk’s offer would provide a substantial premium over Twitter’s current stock price of just more than $45 a share.

Free-speech concern expressed

When Musk made his offer, he lamented the company’s stance on free speech.

“I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk said in the filing. “I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form.”

But instead of putting Musk’s offer up for a vote with Twitter shareholders, the company’s board said Friday that it would instead offer its shareholders a chance to buy even more shares at a steep discount, effectively diluting the price of the stock.

The plan “will reduce the likelihood that any entity … gains control of Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium,” the company said.

The Twitter board’s plan will be effective for one year.

As rumors of a poison pill action circulated Thursday, Musk speculated via Twitter on what might happen.

“If the current Twitter board takes actions contrary to shareholder interests, they would be breaching their fiduciary duty,” he wrote. “The liability they would thereby assume would be titanic in scale.”

 

One analyst, Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, told the New York Post that the board’s move was a “defensive measure,” adding that shareholders would not likely view it positively.

“We believe Musk and his team expected this poker move, which will be perceived as a sign of weakness, not strength, by the Street,” Ives told the Post.

Josh White, a former financial economist for the Securities and Exchange Commission, told BBC that Musk’s negotiation tactics might not be the “right approach” if Musk wants to acquire the company.

“I actually think if he was truly serious about the takeover attempt, he would have started at a price and left the window open for negotiation,” White said.

Twitter ‘storm’?

Edward Rock, who teaches corporate law and governance at New York University’s law school, also had doubts about whether Musk was serious about buying Twitter.

As Rock told NPR, Musk can show he is serious by revealing how he plans to finance the takeover, which he did not show in his SEC filing, or launch a proxy contest to replace Twitter board members in response to its poison pill.

If Musk fails to do so, Rock said, “he’s not going to acquire the company, and people can just write it off like some of his other Twitter storms.”

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
…

your ads here!

Hours after announcing his $43 billion hostile takeover bid for Twitter, business magnate Elon Musk laid out some of his goals for the social media giant, including an edit button that would let users amend ill-considered tweets.

Musk made the comments on the concluding day of the annual TED Conference in Vancouver. In a question-and-answer session, he said Twitter is the global town square and an important and inclusive area for free speech.

He said he has enough assets to cover the $43 billion purchase himself but did not divulge details of how he expects to finance the attempted takeover. If necessary, he said, he has a “Plan B” for acquiring the company.

Musk said if successful, he will make Twitter’s algorithms open source, introduce an edit button for people to change their tweets and will work to “ban the bot armies,” or automated computer programs, from the platform. The edit option will be available for only a limited time after a tweet is sent, he said.

In answering questions from TED head curator and organizer Chris Anderson, Musk also said that when tweets are changed, all retweets and likes to the original message will be deleted.

Musk also indicated that under his control, Twitter would be more reluctant to delete tweets that are of questionable taste or veracity and that when in doubt, he would allow a tweet to exist. But the platform would follow the laws of the different countries where it exists, he said.

Musk also was harshly critical of the San Francisco office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, describing its staff as “those bastards.” The comment came in reference to fraud charges brought by the SEC regarding some 2,018 tweets that Musk sent claiming he had the funding to take his Tesla electric car company private.

In the settlement, Musk was forced to resign as chairman of Tesla, issue a $40 million payout to shareholders and have a lawyer approve his future tweets about the company. Musk said financial institutions forced him into the agreement, as if the SEC had been “holding a gun to your child’s head.” He agreed only to save the company, he said.

The 50-year-old entrepreneur, who also runs SpaceX and the Boring Company, announced the $43 billion takeover bid for Twitter just hours before arriving in Vancouver.

Last week, he purchased 9.2% of the company’s stock but subsequently turned down a seat on the company’s board of directors, which would have limited the amount he could own to 14.9%.

Musk said 2016 to 2018 were the worst years of his life, as Tesla encountered problems with the production of the Model 3. He said he now knows more about manufacturing than anybody on Earth after sleeping on the floors of assembly plants to work out the problems.

He also talked about building sustainable energy from wind, solar, hydro and geothermal, and repeated his support of nuclear power. He briefly talked about further developing robotic intelligence, saying the first robots to help people in everyday life are not far off. Musk said the robots will be affordable, but it should not be possible to update them remotely like computers or his Tesla vehicles.

Besides making these announcements in Vancouver, Musk has a personal tie to the city. The musician Grimes, whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher, is the mother of his two youngest children and grew up in the city, where she has family.
…

your ads here!

Russian users of Netflix NFLX.O have launched a class action lawsuit against the streaming giant for leaving the Russian market, demanding 60 million roubles ($726,000) in compensation, the RIA news agency reported on Wednesday. 

Netflix Inc said in March that it suspended its service in Russia and had temporarily stopped all future projects and acquisitions in the country as it assessed the impact of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Today, a law firm representing the interests of Netflix users filed a class action lawsuit against the American Netflix service with the Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow,” RIA cited law firm Chernyshov, Lukoyanov & Partners as saying. 

“The reason for the lawsuit was a violation of Russian users’ rights due to Netflix’s unilateral refusal to provide services in Russia.” 

Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Scores of foreign companies have announced temporary shutdowns of stores and factories in Russia or said they were leaving for good since Moscow began what it calls “a special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression against its neighbor. 

($1 = 82.62 roubles) 
…

your ads here!

A former energy executive in California who took part in $1 billion solar power fraud that bilked Warren Buffett’s company and many others was sentenced Tuesday to six years in federal prison and ordered to pay $624 million in restitution.

Robert A. Karmann, 55, of Clayton was the chief financial officer for DC Solar, a company based in Benicia in the San Francisco Bay Area that sold mobile solar generator units mounted on trailers.

The company marketed the generators between 2011 and 2018 as being able to provide emergency power for cellphone companies or to provide lighting at sporting and other events.

But the company executives started telling investors they could benefit from federal tax credits by buying the generators and leasing them back to DC Solar, which would then provide them to other companies for their use, prosecutors said.

The generators never provided much income, and prosecutors say the company ran a Ponzi scheme, in which early investors were paid with funds from later investors.

The company eventually stopped building the mobile generators altogether, and prosecutors say a least half the company’s claimed 17,000 generators didn’t really exist.

Among those suckered by the business were Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

DC Solar founder Jeff Carpoff was sentenced last November to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay $790.6 million in restitution for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

His wife, Paulette Carpoff, 47, has pleaded guilty to federal charges and will be sentenced in May.

Prosecutors said the Carpoffs used the money to buy and invest in 32 properties, more than 150 luxury cars, a subscription to a private jet service, a semipro baseball team, a NASCAR race car sponsorship and a suite at the new Las Vegas Raiders stadium.

One other man was sentenced to three years in prison last year and three others pleaded guilty to criminal charges and await sentencing.
…

your ads here!

Elon Musk’s huge Twitter investment took a new twist Tuesday with the filing of a lawsuit alleging that the colorful billionaire illegally delayed disclosing his stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices.

The complaint in New York federal court accuses Musk of violating a regulatory deadline to reveal he had accumulated a stake of at least 5%. Instead, according to the complaint, Musk didn’t disclose his position in Twitter until he’d almost doubled his stake to more than 9%. The lawsuit alleges that the strategy hurt less-wealthy investors who sold shares in the San Francisco company in the nearly two weeks before Musk acknowledged holding a major stake.

Musk’s regulatory filings show that he bought a little more than 620,000 shares at $36.83 apiece on Jan. 31 and then continued to accumulate more shares on nearly every single trading day through April 1. Musk, best known as CEO of the electric car maker Tesla, held 73.1 million Twitter shares as of the most recent count Monday. That represents a 9.1% stake in Twitter.

The lawsuit alleges that by March 14, Musk’s stake in Twitter had reached a 5% threshold that required him to publicly disclose his holdings under U.S. securities law by March 24. Musk didn’t make the required disclosure until April 4.

That revelation caused Twitter’s stock to soar 27% from its April 1 close to nearly $50 by the end of April 4’s trading, depriving investors who sold shares before Musk’s improperly delayed disclosure the chance to realize significant gains, according to the lawsuit filed on behalf of an investor named Marc Bain Rasella. Musk, meanwhile, was able to continue to buy shares that traded in prices ranging from $37.69 to $40.96.

The lawsuit is seeking to be certified as a class action representing Twitter shareholders who sold shares between March 24 and April 4, a process that could take a year or more.

Musk spent about $2.6 billion on Twitter stock — a fraction of his estimated wealth of $265 billion, the largest individual fortune in the world. In a regulatory filing Monday, Musk disclosed he may increase his stake after backing out of an agreement reached last week to join Twitter’s board of directors.

Jacob Walker, one of the lawyers that filed the lawsuit against Musk, told The Associated Press that he hadn’t reached out to the Securities and Exchange Commission about Musk’s alleged violations about the disclosure of his Twitter stake. “I assume the SEC is well aware of what he did,” Walker said.

An SEC spokesperson declined to comment.

The SEC and Musk have been wrangling in court since 2018 when Musk and Tesla agreed to pay a $40 million fine t o settle allegations that he used his Twitter account to mislead investors about a potential buyout of the electric car company that never materialized. As part of that deal, Musk was supposed to obtain legal approval for his tweets about information that could affect Tesla’s stock price — a provision that regulators contend he has occasionally violated and that he now argues unfairly muzzles him.

Musk didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment posted on Twitter, where he often shares his opinion and thoughts. Alex Spiro, a New York lawyer representing Musk in his ongoing dispute with the SEC, also didn’t immediately respond to a query from The Associated Press. 
…

your ads here!

The world of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs is getting a boost from companies and celebrities, who are making the digital products. But the nascent technology comes with risks. Tina Trinh reports.
…

your ads here!

Twitter Inc’s biggest shareholder, Elon Musk, has decided not to join its board, Chief Executive Parag Agrawal said late on Sunday. 

Musk, who calls himself a free-speech absolutist and has been critical of Twitter, disclosed a 9.1% stake on April 4 and said he plans to bring about significant improvements at the social media platform. 

His appointment to the board was to become effective on Saturday and would have prevented him from being a beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of common stock. 

But “Elon shared that same morning that he will no longer be joining the board,” Agrawal said in a note on Twitter. “I believe this is for the best. We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our Board or not. Elon is our biggest shareholder and we will remain open to his input,” Agrawal said. 

 

Musk limited his response to a face with hand over mouth emoticon on Twitter. Tesla did not immediately respond to an email sent to the company seeking a comment from Musk. 

News of Musk taking a board seat had some Twitter employees panicking over the future of the social media firm’s ability to moderate content, company insiders told Reuters. 

Before taking a stake, Musk ran a Twitter poll asking users if they believed Twitter adheres to the principle of free speech. 

A day after becoming the largest shareholder, he launched another poll asking users if they want an edit button, a long-awaited feature on which the social media platform has been working. 

The Tesla boss also asked users in a poll if Twitter’s headquarters should be converted into a homeless shelter, a plan backed by Amazon.com Inc’s founder Jeff Bezos. 

On Saturday, he suggested changes to Twitter Blue premium subscription service, including slashing its price, banning advertising and giving an option to pay in the cryptocurrency dogecoin. 

Twitter shares, which soared 27% on April 4 after Musk disclosed his stake, has lost 7.5% since then to Friday’s close. 

“There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged,” Agrawal said in his Sunday note. 

“Let’s tune out the noise, and stay focused on the work and what we’re building.” 
…

your ads here!

Chinese e-commerce company JD.com said Thursday that its founder Richard Liu has left his position as CEO, the latest Chinese billionaire founder to step aside amid increased government scrutiny of the country’s technology industry.

Liu will hand over the reins to JD.com’s president Xu Lei, according to a company statement. Liu will remain as the chairman of the board and continue to focus on JD.com’s “long-term strategies, mentoring younger management, and contributing to the revitalization of rural areas,” the statement said.

“I’ll devote more of my time to JD’s long-term strategies and future drivers as we continue to work on the most challenging yet valuable things,” Liu said.

Liu is the latest in a string of Chinese technology company founders who have stepped down from leadership positions in recent years. Last year, e-commerce firm Pinduoduo’s founder Colin Huang resigned as chairman and Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming also left his position as chairman of the firm.

The departures came as Beijing cracked down on the country’s once-freewheeling technology industry over antitrust concerns and fears that China’s technology giants were wielding too much influence over society. JD.com’s stock price has plunged 27% over the past year. Its New York-listed stock closed down 3% to $59.07 on the Nasdaq ahead of the announcement Thursday.

Like many Chinese technology companies, JD.com’s finances have suffered over the past year. The company reported a net loss of 5.2 billion yuan ($817 million) for the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to a net income of 24.3 billion yuan ($3.8 billion) in the previous year, even as revenue grew 23%.

E-commerce firms like JD.com and rival Alibaba have been suffering from economic headwinds and a slowdown in consumption, as well as increased competition from other players such as short-video companies like Kuaishou that have begun incorporating e-commerce functions into their platforms.

In 2018, Liu was arrested in Minnesota in the U.S. after a Chinese university student accused him of raping her in her apartment after they both attended a dinner party. Liu was exonerated after prosecutors found there was not enough evidence to press charges. The student later sued Liu in a civil lawsuit, seeking more than $50,000 in damages.
…

your ads here!

Twitter said on Tuesday it will begin testing a new edit feature in the coming months, surprising its users on the same day it said Tesla boss Elon Musk would join the social media company’s board. 

Jay Sullivan, Twitter’s head of consumer products, said in a tweet the company had been working since last year on building an edit option, “the most requested Twitter feature for many years.” 

The news, first teased by Twitter on April Fools’ Day, comes as the company faces a broader change in direction with Musk becoming its largest shareholder and joining the board after questioning the social media platform’s commitment to free speech.  

Musk began polling Twitter users about an edit button after disclosing his 9.2% stake in the company on Monday. As of 6:30 p.m. EST, the poll had more than 4.2 million votes, with 73.5% supporting the feature. 

Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal asked users to “vote carefully” on Monday, though the company on Tuesday tweeted that it did not get the idea for the edit button from the poll. 

Sullivan tweeted the feature will take time to fine tune as “without things like time limits, controls, and transparency about what has been edited, Edit could be misused to alter the record of the public conversation.” 

The company will actively seek “input and adversarial thinking in advance of launching Edit,” he added. 

Twitter will start testing the feature within its Twitter Blue Labs premium subscription service in the coming months to “learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s possible,” it said. 

Twitter Blue members get exclusive access to premium features and app customizations for a monthly subscription. 

 
…

your ads here!

A day after it was revealed he owned the largest stake in Twitter, slightly more than 9% of shares, Elon Musk has joined the company’s board of directors.

The Tesla and SpaceX founder will be on the board until at least 2024, according to a regulatory filing.

As a stipulation of his board membership, Musk won’t be allowed to own more than 14.9% of Twitter shares while on the board and for three months following a departure from the board.

After the announcement, Musk tweeted, “Looking forward to working with Parag & Twitter board to make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months!”

“I’m excited to share that we’re appointing @elonmusk to our board!” tweeted Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. “Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board.”

“He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service, which is exactly what we need on @Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term. Welcome Elon!”

In recent weeks, Musk, who is an active Twitter user with upwards of 80 million followers, has questioned the platform’s commitment to free speech and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  

He recently ran a poll on Twitter asking users if they felt the same. More than 2 million responded, with over 70% saying Twitter does not adhere to free speech.  

 

Twitter stock has surged since Musk’s acquisition of about $3 billion worth of the company’s stock. 

Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press. 
…

your ads here!