đŚâ Twitterâs âAfter Elonâ era
Hey Snackers,
They grow up so fast: a week after going public, Porsche officially overtook Volkswagen (its former parent) as Europeâs most valuable carmaker, racing its way to an $84B market cap.
Stocks fell again yesterday as investors braced themselves for the September jobs report, which gets released today.
Elon Musk says he wants to close his $44B Twitter-quistion this month, but the saga isnât over
Texting âjack jackâ... Elonâs pet name for Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. Last week, a trove of texts were made public ahead of the Elon v. Twitter trial â and pet names werenât the cringiest revelation in Elonâs messages. The latest season of the Elon-Twitter saga heated up this week, with some Emmy-worthy plot points:
- NVM: Elon told Twitter he'd buy the company at his original offer price of $54.20 per share, after aggressively trying to back out of the deal over what he said were spam-bot issues. Muskâs legal team reportedly likely lost confidence it could win.
- Blue bird flies: Twitter shares have popped 15% since Tuesday, but are still lower than Elonâs offer price (many say heâs overpaying for the struggling company).
- Hot court date: Yesterday Musk said he wanted Twitter to call off existing litigation so that he could close the deal this month. Twitter seems to think Muskâs team is only trying to stall again. The trial was scheduled to start on October 17, but thenâŚ
On the next episode⌠Late yesterday a Delaware judge ruled that Elon has until October 28 to seal this deal if he wants to avoid a trial. If the deal doesnât close, the trial will be moved to November. Key deets still need to be hashed out, including debt financing. If those get resolved, the two sides could file a motion to end the lawsuit (which would save both parties a pricey headache).
It could be just the beginning⌠of Twitterâs A.E. (After Elon) era. If the deal closes, a new chapter begins for the internetâs âtown square.â Musk, the self-proclaimed âfree-speech absolutist,â wants to loosen moderation rules â including reinstating banned accounts like former President Trumpâs. Heâs also suggested that an open-source algorithm could address mysteries around how posts are promoted. While some are stoked about Elonâs nebulous plans, others (including many Twitter employees) are concerned about the platformâs safety.
TikTok wants to popularize live shopping in the US as tech giants try to catch up with Chinaâs social-commerce boom
Ready, set, shop⌠TikTok is setting the stage for users and businesses to host live shopping events. This week Gen Zâs favorite app reportedly signed a deal with LA-based streaming platform TalkShopLive. TikTok's live shopping platform launched in the UK last year but has struggled with low usage. Now it may try again stateside with TalkShopLiveâs tech:
- QVC for the social era: TSL lets everyone â from Shein haul influencers to amateur home chefs â host live shows. In February it teamed up with Walmart for live shopping events.
- TalkShopLive lets viewers purchase goodies during and after live streams, taking a 10% commission from sellers.
Buy my #OOTD⌠Live shopping isnât new, but itâs much more popular in Asia. Last year, Chinaâs live-stream shopping brought in $300B in sales, versus $11B in the US. Now American techies are trying to get in on the action. Amazon leaned on influencers to host Prime Day live streams this year, and Meta launched a live-shopping feature in 2018 â but shut it down last month to focus on Reels.
- TikTok owner ByteDance tripled its losses last year after spending heavily to expand. Now itâs looking for fresh ways to monetize its 1B+ users.
- Last year TikTok started allowing Shopify merchants with a "TikTok for Business" account to add âshoppingâ tabs to their profiles and create mini storefronts.
You get in where you fit in⌠TikTok is already the home for beauty hauls and cooking tutorials. Now it could use TalkShopLive to fortify its shopping offerings â a draw for merchants and users. Social commerce is predicted to grow 3X as fast as traditional ecommerce over the next three years.
The Crypto Catch-UpâŚ
- đď¸ Policy⌠Yesterday the EU expanded its Russian sanctions. The target: crypto. Companies can no longer offer crypto wallets, accounts, or custody services to either the Russian gov or people inside the country.
- đ¤šââď¸ Quirky⌠Crypto winter has given rise to 12K+ "zombie coins." These are tokens that haven't traded at all for a month â but because of their decentralized nature can still stumble on (mindlessly or not).
- đ¤ Sus⌠Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius shocked its 1.7M users after it froze their accounts (worth $8B) in June. But in May Celsius execs withdrew over $20M in crypto. Alex Mashinsky stepped down as CEO last month.
What else weâre Snackinâ
- Pelogone: Struggling spin-bike maker Peloton is cutting 500 employees (12% of workforce) in its latest round of layoffs. The pandemic darling's trying to save its biz through partnerships with Amazon, Dickâs, and Hilton.
- Zon: Amazon said itâll hire 150K warehouse workers for the holiday season, which is expected to be less intense than last. The Zon shuttered scores of warehouses this year as shoppers cut ecomm spending.
- Fell: Shell said its profit puppy natural-gas biz would likely be negatively affected by supply shortages. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has upended the energy market, sending countries scrambling for gas.
- Wippy: Packaged-food giant Conagra (Duncan Hines, Reddi-wip, Birds Eye) boosted sales 10% thanks to price hikes. Companies have been passing on food-flation to customers, but shoppers could start to pull back.
- Smashed: DoorDash is letting customers batch food and booze orders from different restos. The goal: compete with delivery rivals Grubhub and Drizly owner Uber, both of which already sling spirits.
Friday
- Monthly employment data
- Earnings expected from Tilray
Authors of this Snacks own: shares of Amazon, Shopify, Uber, and Walmart
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