Tech: Inside Musk's Twitter meeting
Good morning from London! I'm Hallam Bullock, the editor of this newsletter, covering for Jordan Parker Erb.
Elon Musk has met with Twitter staff for the first time since he agreed to buy the social network for $44 billion in late April. But many employees are upset about the deal, and Musk found himself facing some pointed questions.
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1. Elon Musk covered a lot of ground at the internal Twitter meeting. Insider has reviewed a recording of the highly-anticipated call, in which Musk made his thoughts clear on the thorny issue of remote work, addressed taking the company private, and suggested the social network may lay off staff after he buys it.
- Employees submitted more than 100 questions for the Tesla CEO ahead of the meeting. These questions fell into six broad categories, including free speech, policies around removing "objectionable content," and questions about Musk's personal life — you can check out everything that was covered here.
- Musk appeared to erase doubts that he wants to acquire Twitterafter he arrived late to the meeting. Despite speculation that he wanted to get out of the deal, Musk used the all-hands meeting to talk up Twitter's virtues: "I love Twitter," he said, "I want to be clear about that, I love Twitter."
- Some employees present on the call expressed frustration at Musk's "rambling" responses, others said there were a lot of "negative live comments" during the meeting. However, one Twitter engineer said they found Musk's responses "motivating."
In other news:
Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters
2. Shares of two leading e-commerce companies plummeted following news of Amazon's planned expansion. Africa's Jumia and Argentina-based MercadoLibre fell significantly after Insider reported on Amazon's leaked plans.
3. A drinkable meal replacement has a cult following among techies. Soylent's drinkers are mostly affluent millennials and Gen Zers who are gulping down calories without leaving their desks. For many, it's become a ritual.
4. Tiger Global hacked venture capital, but now that strategy is backfiring. Tiger paid consulting firm Bain & Co more than $100 million a year to help it move quicker than rivals, reeling in billions of dollars in the process. But now, the corner-cutting approach is having significant consequences.
5. Former Coinbase staff blame exorbitant spending habits for layoffs. Sky-high salaries and frenzied hiring meant the "writing was on the wall" for many employees. One former manager previously warned the company about its excessive spending: "eventually the chickens are going to come home to roost."
6. An Insider reporter went inside a physical NFT gallery, but it felt completely pointless. Consensus 2022 was a mega-gathering of crypto disciples, featuring spectacles such as a dogecoin-covered McLaren. Our reporter checked out a physical NFT gallery, but it felt like more noise on top of the already-frothy NFT market.
7. Leaked memo shows Uber is raising prices for rides in one major US metro area. Phoenix has become one of the first recent instances of ride prices going up in a specific location to combat rising fuel prices — here's why.
8. Tesla increases prices for all models in the US. Earlier this month, Elon Musk said he had a "super bad feeling" about the economy. Now, amid ongoing supply chain issues, Tesla has made some big price hikes, with some models rising by $6,000.
Odds and ends:
TikTok; Insider
9. A new TikTok feature lets you create a custom 3D Avatar. Snapchat has Bitmoji, iMessage has Memoji, and now TikTok has Avatars — it's a new feature that lets you replace yourself with a 3D character in your videos. Here's how to create yours.
10. A four-day road trip showed the difficulty of taking an EV cross-country. During the 2,000-mile round trip, Rachel Wolfe suffered missed reservations, long charging times, and a dwindling battery amid a tornado warning. But her ordeal highlighted a key advantage Tesla owners have over other EV drivers.
The latest people moves in tech:
- Yahoo appointed six new members to its board of directors — including actor Jessica Alba.
- Tesla fired its Singapore country manager, who was with the company just over one year.
- Indeed has named Priscilla Koranteng as its new chief people officer
Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.
Curated by Hallam Bullock in London (Feedback or tips? Email hbullock@insider.com or tweet @hallam_bullock).
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