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Twitter Begins Laying Off Employees


The day many workers at Twitter have dreaded since Elon Musk took control of the social network has arrived. By 9 a.m. Pacific Time, an unknown – though possibly significant – number will be worked out through a complex system Are they still Twitter employees?. Another unknown: whether Elon Musk is legally conducting mass layoffs.

How will it work: According to one Internal memo leaked, employees should expect to receive an email titled “Your Role at Twitter.” Where they get it will be the first sign of their fate: If they get it in the job email, they’re still employed; if it comes to their personal email, they will be fired. Twitter’s offices will be closed on Friday.

Meanwhile, employees have complained that – until the announcement of layoffs – they have not received any official communication from Musk or other leaders. It’s a big change for employees accustomed to Twitter’s open communication ethos: “It’s like Twitter’s culture has completely disappeared overnight,” one employee told The Washington Post. .

In a smaller change, Musk also remove monthly “rest days” for Twitter employees, according to Bloomberg.

It is unclear whether the layoff process follows legal protocols. Federal and California law require companies to provide advance notice of mass layoffs — the federal WARN Act requires 60-day notice — but it’s unclear if Musk will. As of last night, California’s Employment Development Department said it had not received any such notice. That could lead to potential action by employment authorities. Twitter has was sued by three employees alleging that the company violated the WARN Act.

Advertisers seem increasingly wary of uncertainty. Volkswagen of Audi, General Mills and Mondelez are among the newest companies pause their ad spend on Twitter. They are concerned about the possibility of a retreat on content moderation that made Twitter a more malicious platform, the chaos of Musk’s early days of company ownership, or both.

That could give Musk more headaches, who are pushing for signups and more to cut costs and increase money so he can do the math taking over his $44 billion.

Other tech companies are laying off as well. Ride-hailing company Lyft and payment processor Stripe are job cuts, while Amazon and Apple are suspending hiring for most positions. These moves show that Elon Musk isn’t the only tech CEO looking to pull back in the face of a potential recession.

Billionaire donors help break political spending records. Total spending on federal and state races in 2021 and 2022 may exceed $16.7 billion, as estimated by Open Secrets. Tycoons like George Soros, Citadel’s Ken Griffin and FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried are among the biggest donors; most major contributors to the Republican party.

President Biden is said to be considering eliminating the debt ceiling dispute until 2025. The White House and Democratic leaders in Congress are seeking unilateralism surpassing the debt ceiling increase that will last through the 2024 election, according to Politico. Democrats worry about Republicans threatening America’s credibility for political purposes.

China stocks rebound on hopes of ending zero-Covid policy. Despite the objections of government officials, investors again stick to unverified reports that Beijing will relax tight restrictions on the pandemic to help boost China’s slowing economy. Meanwhile, Hong Kong leaders bend the city’s strict Covid rules to visit company executives to show it is open for business.

The Bank of England predicts tough times ahead. After the central bank raised its key interest rate by 0.75 percentage points yesterday, officials said Britain facing a “prolonged” recession that can last two years. But analysts, seeing that future rate hikes will be smaller, say they Expect mortgage rates to fall.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is said to be consider bids for the Commanders of Washington, and possibly partnering with Jay-Z, according to The Washington Post, which Bezos owns. (People first time reporting the news.) But buying the NFL team could force Bezos into major concessions that will affect his business empire.

With an estimated fortune of $113.2 billion, Bezos would be a formidable contractor for Commanders. Forbes puts the last team at about $5.6 billion, but it could fetch more. Bezos will likely have to compete with a field of other suitors for the team, but his huge fortune could make him a favorite, many times Walmart heiress Rob Walton fast quickly became the first to buy the Denver Broncos.

Does Bezos have to cut ties with Amazon to succeed? Despite stepping down as CEO of Amazon last year to become executive chairman, according to his successor Andy Jassy, ​​he is still involved. Those strong ties raised the question of a potential conflict of interest if he possessed the Commanders.

Chief among them is Amazon Prime’s streaming of NFL games, after the tech giant pay 1 billion dollars a year to have the exclusive rights to Thursday night games through 2033. It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Bezos, as the NFL team owner, would enter into negotiations with Amazon – or the broadcasters. another picture – about future streaming deals. That could force him to choose between two goals – and if he does choose football, that will say a lot about his long-term commitment to Amazon.

Such conflicts (and concessions) are nothing new in American sport. Michael Rubin, founder and CEO of sports trading giant Fanatics, recently gave up his stake in the corporate owner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Team, to avoid conflicts with those leagues when the Fanatics switch sports betting.


Pressure is mounting on the Albertsons over plans to pay shareholders a special $4 billion dividend before the grocery store owner proposes to sell $24.6 billion to Kroger. A judge in Washington temporarily blocked payment, after the state attorney general and others sued to stop it. (Albertsons will appeal the judge’s order.)

Now, lawmakers led by Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren are targeting the largest shareholder and former owner of Albertsons, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, DealBook as the first. first reported.

Are dividends part of the deal, legislators asked in a letter to the co-CEOs of Cerberus? Kroger originally said yes, but the two grocery companies later said otherwise. If dividends are part of a transaction, that could constitute a “jumping gun,” in which merger partners work together to make business decisions before their transaction closes – a possible antitrust violations. (The state attorney general who sued to block the dividend has also cited antitrust concerns.)

Lawmakers are also worried about the Albertsons’ financial health. The politicians wrote: If the Kroger deal falls apart, the Albertsons could face serious financial difficulties; if it succeeds, dividends will be a heavy burden on the incorporated company. (Albertsons says it is confident of its “strong financial position”: It will have about $500 million in cash and $2.5 billion in loans available after the dividend.)

Warren and her colleagues also criticized the payment as a gift to Cerberus and other shareholders, when it should hire more workers, improve stores or reduce prices. (Warren, averse to private equity, echoes some of her criticisms of leveraged buyout companies, and Cerberus in particular, as a good measure.)

The message isn’t too hidden: We don’t like this deal. “There is growing evidence that even if your company will receive a headwind, workers and consumers will lose money if this merger proceeds,” the lawmakers wrote. Their letter is filled with arguments as to why the transaction should not continue.


Senator Joe ManchinDemocrat of West Virginia, advised business leaders at a Fortune conference that they should rethink the way they donate politically.


Emily Flitter, a banking writer for The Times, received a tip in 2018 that a major Wall Street firm had fired one of its Black employees for no reason. From there, she set out to learn how America’s largest banks and insurance companies treat their Black employees and customers, finding examples of racial profiling and discriminatory practices. treatment in hiring and firing. She talked to Andrew about her new book, “The White Wall: How Big Finance Defeats Black America. This interview has been edited for brevity.

What was the motivation to write the book?

I keep hearing stories of racism that look like a one-off. But then something bigger happened when I connected with Ricardo Peters [a former financial adviser at JPMorgan Chase whose story of racial discrimination on the job was covered in the Times in 2019]. He has a ton of material. He documented every step of the process and the experience he went through, starting from when he felt like his boss was treating him wrong, to the interactions he had with the managers. JPMorgan managers and human resources officials.

JPMorgan is pointed out in the book. Are there companies that you think are doing better or worse?

I really don’t think JPMorgan is worse than any other bank. That’s the point. The easiest reason to focus on JPMorgan is that they are the biggest, and in many ways the most complex.

How do you compare racism on Wall Street versus American businesses?

The existence of racism in this industry has a devastating impact on people’s lives. It really radiates to the rest of the economy.

What was the reaction of the banks to this book?

Cricket. But I haven’t heard from a Black reader who hasn’t said, ‘Well, this describes my experience.’ Or, ‘I feel validated.’ I’m getting a lot of people saying, ‘Thanks for putting this all in one place, because that’s our reality.’

Endow

Policy

  • Gigi Sohn supporters worry her nomination to the FCC is being thwarted by political lobbying on behalf of Comcast and Fox News. (The Verge)

  • Donald Trump adviser warns former president did not file his latest lawsuit against Letitia James, attorney general of New York. (NYT)

  • A test for deep-sea mining of electric vehicle parts has international regulators pondering whether to Fully allow practice starting in 2024. (NYT)

The best rest

  • CNBC has canceled Shepard Smith’s evening show, ending their latest foray into news of general interest. (NYT)

  • Than Chinese Missiles is falling back to earth. (Washington Post)

  • Clearing up traffic jams this 1,900-mile stretch of highway in Africa could be the key to solving the electric vehicle industry’s supply chain troubles. (Bloomberg)

Thanks for reading! See you tomorrow.

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