Elon Musk said on Wednesday he expected to reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the social media company, adding that he hoped to complete an organizational restructuring this week.
Musk made the remarks while testifying in a Delaware court to defend against claims that his $56 billion pay package at Tesla Inc. was based on easy to achieve performance targets and was approved by a compliant board of directors.
However Musk later said in a tweet that he will continue to run Twitter until it is in a strong place, though it will “take some time.”
Musk’s tweet came after former CEO Jack Dorsey said that he will not accept the role of Twitter CEO. In a reply to a Twitter user when asked if he would take the position of CEO, he said “nope.”
Tesla investors have been increasingly concerned about the time that Musk is devoting to turning around Twitter.
“There’s an initial burst of activity needed post-acquisition to reorganize the company,” Musk said in his testimony. “But then I expect to reduce my time at Twitter.”
Musk also admitted that some Tesla engineers were assisting in evaluating Twitter’s engineering teams, but he said it was on a “voluntary basis” and “after hours.”
The billionaire’ s first two weeks as Twitter’s owner has been marked by rapid change and chaos. He quickly fired Twitter’s previous CEO and other senior leaders and then laid off half its staff earlier this month.
Musk sent an email to Twitter employees early Wednesday, telling them they needed to decide by Thursday whether they wanted to stay on at the company to work “long hours at high intensity” or take a severance package of three months of pay. (Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Tom Hals; Additional reporting by Akanksha Khushi. Writing by Sheila Dang; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Richard Chang and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)
Elon Musk says he will find a new leader for Twitter
https://arab.news/y4jx5
Elon Musk says he will find a new leader for Twitter
- Musk’s anouncement in a tweet came after former CEO Jack Dorsey said that he will not accept the role of Twitter CEO
- Tesla investors have been increasingly concerned about the time that Musk is devoting to turning around Twitter
Meta to charge Arab advertisers extra fee for reaching European audiences
- US tech giant told advertisers it will add fees ranging from 2 to 5 percent on image and video ads delivered on its platforms to offset digital service taxes
- Charges are determined by where the audience is located, not where the advertiser is based
LONDON: Meta will from July 1 impose location-based surcharges on advertisers targeting audiences in six European countries, a move that will directly affect Arab businesses that run campaigns across the continent.
The US tech giant announced it will add fees ranging from 2 to 5 percent on image and video ads delivered on its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, to offset digital service taxes imposed by individual governments.
Crucially, the charges are determined by where the audience is located, not where the advertiser is based.
That means Saudi, Emirati, Egyptian or other Arab companies paying to reach consumers in the UK, France or Italy will face the additional costs regardless of their own country’s tax arrangements with Meta.
Fees will apply at 2 percent for ads reaching UK audiences, 3 percent for France, Italy and Spain, and 5 percent for Austria and Turkiye.
“If you deliver $100 in ads to Italy, where there is a 3% location fee, you will be charged $100 (ad delivery), plus $3 (location fee), for $103 total,” the company wrote in an email to an advertiser initially reported by Bloomberg. “Note that any applicable VAT will be calculated on top of the total amount.”
The taxes have been introduced at different points, starting with France in 2019, though not the EU as a bloc.
Many tech companies report substantial sales in Europe and millions of users but pay minimal tax on profits. The goal is to claw back locally derived economic value, Bloomberg reported.
The move follows similar decisions by Google and Amazon, which have also begun passing European digital tax costs on to advertisers.
For Arab brands with growing European footprints, particularly in fashion, travel, hospitality and media, the new fees add another layer of cost to campaigns already subject to currency and targeting complexities.
Digital services taxes, levied as a percentage of revenues earned by major tech platforms in individual countries, have drawn criticism from Washington, which argues they unfairly target US companies.
Meta has been reached for comments.
