🐦 Elon goes shopping

#ICYMI… Twitter’s favorite CEO-lebrity is now its biggest shareholder. Two weeks ago Elon Musk asked his 80M followers whether Twitter was doing a good job supporting free speech: 70% of respondents said no. Yesterday an SEC filing revealed that the Tesla and SpaceX CEO had owned a big chunk of Twitter shares at the time of the poll.

• Musk now owns over 9% of Twitter shares — quadruple that of cofounder Jack Dorsey.
• Passive activist: Elon’s stake is less than a 10th, and he’s technically not an “activist” investor. But it doesn’t mean he can’t influence Twitter’s price.
• Exhibit A: Twitter shares jumped nearly 30% on word of Elon’s purchase.

Itchy Twitter finger… Elon has called Twitter a “de facto public town square,” and he’s famously loud in that square: he tweeted 3K+ times last year. In just the past month, he posted memes of ducks in police cars, “Lord of the Rings” quotes, and that poll about the future of free speech. But tweets have also landed the Technoking in hot water:

• Tweet-trouble: The SEC accused Elon of fraud in connection with breaking securities laws on Twitter (think: the infamous 420 tweet), which resulted in $20M penalties for both Elon and Tesla.

Don’t call it a comeback… Longtime Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is taking back the reins as (interim) chief exec this week — his third time in the gig — and he’s already brewing up big changes. First order of business: halting stock buybacks. (Flashback: former CEO Kevin Johnson pledged $20B in new buybacks and dividends as recently as in October.) Starbucks posted record sales last year as you splurged on venti chai lattes, but the world's largest coffee biz has been struggling with rising supply costs and overwhelmed, unhappy baristas:

• Starbucks’ flagship Reserve Roastery in NYC just became the ninth location to unionize. Another 140 stores have filed for union recognition.
• Starbucks has spent $1B over the past two years to boost employee wages and incentives — including a new starting wage of $17/hour — but some workers say it isn’t enough.

A new era for unions… Starbucks isn't the only biz in the middle of a rising labor movement. Last week Amazon lost a historic fight after NYC warehouse workers voted to form the company's first US union. A tight labor market has spurred demand for higher wages and stronger benefits, and brought union popularity to its highest level since 1965. And it’s even gaining momentum in the famously union-averse food biz.

• Warning: JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon wrote in his closely read annual shareholder letter that the global economy is facing an “unprecedented” moment, but said the American consumer is still in excellent shape.
• Tossed: A judge struck down California’s law mandating diversity quotas for corporate boards, ruling it unconstitutional. CA could appeal, but the decision is a setback for its workplace-diversity efforts.
• Wheels: Ford’s sales dropped 17% last quarter, with its profit-puppy line of F-series pickups plummeting 31%. Like its rivals, Ford’s been dealing with a shortage of computer chips that still hasn’t let up.
• Windfall: Exxon said it expects high oil prices to boost quarterly profits by $2.3B. But the gas powerhouse could lose $4B on an abandoned drilling project in Russia.
• Stalled: Two upcoming Will Smith projects have apparently been put on ice after his Oscars fiasco. Netflix has reportedly moved the thriller “Fast and Loose” to the back burner, while Sony is said to be pausing “Bad Boys 4.”

• Earnings expected from: Acuity Brands, Lindsay Corp., Greenbrier Companies, SMART Global Holdings

Authors of this Snacks own: shares of Starbucks, Exxon, Twitter, Tesla, Snap, Netflix, Ford, and Google

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