 Statement shared by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal | Source: Twitter Late Sunday night, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk would not join its board of directors as previously announced. Agrawal shared that Musk's board appointment would have gone into effect on Saturday, April 9, contingent on a background check and a formal acceptance from Musk; however, on the morning of April 9, Musk shared he would no longer be joining Twitter's board. More: - Agrawal stated that Twitter will always value its shareholders' input, whether they are on the board or not, and will remain open to Musk's input.
- Last Monday, news became public that Musk had become Twitter's largest shareholder with a 9.2% stake in the social media platform, valued at $3B.
- Soon after, Twitter announced Musk would join its board under the agreement that the Tesla chief would not hold more than a 14.9% stake in Twitter.
- On Thursday, it was revealed that Twitter would host an AMA with Musk and Twitter employees after many workers shared concerns about Musk's potential impact on the company's culture.
- Closing the statement, Agrawal noted there would be "distractions ahead," but the company's goals and priorities remain unchanged.
- Musk not joining the board means he can own more than 14.9% of the company. He could also potentially pursue a hostile takeover.
- Twitter shares fell over 5% in premarket trading on Monday; it closed at $47.01 a share, up ~1.7% for the day.
| |
Shopify announced on Monday it is planning a 10-for-1 stock split. The e-commerce startup also shared it is looking to increase founder and CEO Tobi Lutke’s voting power by creating a new class of non-transferable founder shares that would give Lutke a total voting power of 40% when combined with his existing Class B shares. More: - Lutke will have the founder shares as long as he remains at Shopify as an executive, a board member, or a consultant.
- The 10-for-1 stock split would give investors nine additional Class A or Class B shares for each one the investor holds as of June 28.
- The proposed split is subject to the approval of at least two-thirds of shareholder votes.
- Shopify stock rose over 185% in 2020, helping small businesses move their operations online during the pandemic.
- It grew an additional 21% in 2021 but has fallen over 55% so far this year; it closed at $602.18 a share on Friday.
- Shopify shares rose over 1.5% in premarket trading on Monday; it closed at $617.38 a share, up ~2.4% for day.
| |
 A message from SUCCESSKIT Stop wasting time and missing opportunities. Get your Case Studies done now. Does this sound familiar? Your sales team needs more social proof. Your marketing team is spread too thin to produce enough assets. Everyone is frustrated because you need more Case Studies. That's where we come in. We’ve worked with hundreds of happy B2B companies to create thousands of high-quality Case Studies. We can do the same for you, so you can focus on growth. - We manage the entire process, including scheduling, interviews, copy, and design.
- We tell your story from your client's perspective based on meticulous interviews.
- We secure approval from your client so your asset is ready to use.
- We offer a quick turnaround (an average of 3.5 weeks).
Want to learn more? Click Here to Get Started
| |
Private equity firm Thoma Bravo is buying cybersecurity company SailPoint Technologies in a deal valued at $6.9B. Thoma Bravo will pay $65.25 a share for SailPoint, a ~31% premium on the company’s closing price on Friday. This is the second time Thoma Bravo is investing in SailPoint — the firm initially did so in 2014 and listed the company on the NYSE in 2017. Thoma Bravo exited its holdings by the end of 2018. More: - On the takeover news, SailPoint shares jumped over 28% in premarket trading on Monday; it was up ~29% by mid-day trading.
- SailPoint provides business employees secure access to remote working software and protects the business’s cloud computing infrastructure from hackers.
- Thoma Bravo’s takeover bid was approved unanimously by SailPoint’s board of directors.
- The deal gives SailPoint a “go-shop” period that expires on May 16 to seek other offers.
- Last month, Thoma Bravo bought enterprise software company Anaplan in a $10.7B takeover deal.
- Thoma Bravo bypassed traditional bank lenders and raised financing from private lenders, including Blackstone, Golub Capital, and Owl Rock.
| |
Russia threatened to take legal action if the West forces it to default on its sovereign debt. Russia has two dollar-denominated sovereign bond payments totaling $649M that were due on April 4. Last week, it attempted to pay the bonds in rubles, but the U.S. Treasury blocked the transfer, preventing Russia from using its frozen foreign currency reserves to service its debt. More: - Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanovsaid said Russia would sue if it is made to default on its obligations because it has taken all the necessary steps to ensure that investors receive their payments.
- Siluanov noted that Russia has tried to pay both in dollars and rubles.
- He did not give details on any legal actions Russia may take but noted that Russia would do everything possible to pay its debts.
- Russia's external liabilities total about 21 trillion rubles ($262B), about 20% of its total public debt.
- Russia has not defaulted on its external debt since 1917, during the aftermath of its revolution.
- According to Mitu Gulati, a professor of law at the University of Virginia, the bonds were issued under English law, which allows the borrower to defend themselves if an external force prevents them from honoring their obligations.
In related news: - On Monday, the Russian ruble fell about 4% against the U.S. dollar to 79.45 rubles to a dollar.
- It fell 4.5% against the euro, to 86.45 rubles to a euro.
| |
 A message from ADOBE COMMERCE Strong in digital commerce and a Leader in the Magic Quadrant. In the 2021 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Commerce, Adobe was named a Leader among 17 vendors. Gartner® evaluates digital commerce vendors on their “completeness of vision” and “ability to execute.” Find out why Adobe was named a Leader for Digital Commerce among 17 vendors in the Q3 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant report. Strengths - Global reach: Adobe has the most diverse geographic presence of all the vendors evaluated in this Magic Quadrant. It also has the largest number of service partners spread across all major markets, making it easier for organizations to find partners in their local markets.
- Out-of-the-box functionality: Adobe has comprehensive OOTB functionality that can fulfill requirements from basic to medium levels of complexity. It supports multiple user roles, multistores, catalog management, marketplace integration, promotions and discounts, language, and currencies, all with good granular control. It has a native CMS (Page Builder) and a Progressive Web Apps (PWA) studio with reference storefront.
- Admin UI: Adobe has a modern and intuitive UI that can be configured based on user role. It supports multiple import mechanisms for product data, and can integrate with multiple sources and analytics tools, making it easy for admins to focus on outcomes.
Claim your free report
| |
JetBlue says it is cutting its summer flight schedule by 10% starting in May. The airline pointed to staff shortages as the reason for the cut; the airline canceled over 300 flights over the weekend. JetBlue has hired about 2,500 people so far this year but is still short-staffed. More: - In an email to employees, JetBlue COO and President Joanna Geraghty said the airline industry is still in recovery, and the best plan now is to reduce capacity.
- Geraghty added that the airline will share more measures to avoid disruptions with staff in the coming weeks.
- Last week, Alaska Airlines also announced it would cut its schedule by 2% through the end of June.
- The airline pointed to a shortage of pilots and other staff.
- Last week, JetBlue put in a $3.6B offer to buy Spirit Airlines weeks after Spirit announced it would merge with Frontier Airlines.
| |
 Image: Epic Games Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, announced it has raised $2B from Sony Group and Kirkbi, the parent company of Lego Group, at a $31.5B valuation. Sony and Kirkbi each invested $1B in the company to help develop its kid-friendly metaverse ambitions and support the gaming company's continued growth. More: - Epic Games said all three companies intend to create new social entertainment that explores the connection between the digital and physical worlds.
- Last week, Epic Games announced a partnership with Lego to build a metaverse for kids. They outlined three principles that will guide their kids' metaverse goal.
- They will work together to make children's safety and well-being a priority.
- They will safeguard children's privacy.
- They will equip children and adults with tools that will give them control over their digital experience.
- Epic Games has raised $7.1B to date; investors include Sony, Tencent, Vulcan Capital, BlackRock, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, and Disney Accelerator.
| |
Quick Hits - B2B businesses are switching to e-commerce. Now, it’s your turn. Learn three persuasive approaches that communicate the value of digital to decision-makers.*
- Emmanuel Macron and far-right opponent Marine Le Pen will face off in the second and final stage of the French presidential election on April 24. Macron won about 27.6% of the votes in the first round of elections, and Le Pen secured 23.4%.
- Shanghai announced plans to lift its strict COVID-19 lockdown measures slowly. The city will lift lockdown measures in areas that report zero COVID cases over two weeks.
- Apple announced it would start making its iPhone 13 in India, a move to reduce its reliance on China. The iPhone 13 is the fourth model Apple phone to be produced in India since the company launched its manufacturing operations in 2017.
- Chinese EV startup Nio announced on Sunday it would raise the price of its three SUVs, ES8, ES6, and EC6, by 10,000 yuan ($1,572) each, effective May 10. The company suspended its production on Saturday, citing COVID-related restrictions.
- DoorDash launched a new cheaper subscription plan for college students called DashPass for Students. The pass costs $4.99 per month and comes with the company’s unlimited $0 delivery fees on orders over $12.
*This is a sponsored post.
| |
Upcoming Events - April 12 - Venturing in VC: Episode #15 with Katelin Holloway (Seven Seven Six) (Register Here)
- April 13 - Achieve 1M+ Record/Second Kafka Ingest without Sacrificing Query Latency. (Register Here) *
- April 14 - Shopping In The Metaverse (Register Here)
- April 21 - Why a Disaster Recovery Plan is Vital for SMBs (Register Here) *
- April 26 - Need To Know NoCoder - Gautam Nimmagadda (Quixy) (Register Here)
- April 28 - Alternative Investments 2: Crypto Safety Standards (Register Here)
- May 12 - Making Metaverse Dating a Reality (Register Here)
- May 19 - Understanding Fractionalization (Register Here)
- May 24 - Meet Our Fund 3 (Register Here)
- May 31 - Ethereum Merge with Anthony Donofrio (Ethereum) (Register Here)
- June 01 - Selling Consumer Goods in Web3 (Register Here)
- June 09 - Empowering Content Creators with No Code (Register Here)
*This is a sponsored listing. Check out https://inside.com/events to learn more!
| |
 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or through email at vanessa@inside.com |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
| |
| |
Comments
Post a Comment