Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has taken a 9.2% stake in Twitter, according to an SEC filing published on Monday. Musk owns 73,486,938 shares of Twitter common stock worth about $2.89B based on Twitter’s closing price on Friday. The stake makes Musk Twitter’s largest shareholder. Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey owns a 2.25% stake in the company. More: - Last month, in a poll to his over 80 million followers on Twitter, Musk asked if the platform adheres to free speech principles.
- Following the poll result, with about 70% voting “no,” Musk criticized Twitter over its failure to adhere to free speech principles and asked what could be done.
- Musk tweeted, “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.”
- Responding to a tweet, Musk said he was considering building a new social media platform to compete with Twitter.
- Twitter shares jumped over 25% in premarket trading on Monday following the SEC release.
- It closed at $49.97 a share on Monday, up ~27% for the day.
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 JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon | Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images In his annual letter to shareholders on Monday, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned that the world is facing unprecedented times ahead due to a confluence of a stimulus-backed economic recovery, rising inflation, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. Dimon said the U.S. economy is strong with rising wages and job growth. Still, rising inflation would require interest rate increases and a massive shift from quantitative easing to quantitative tightening. He noted the Fed made the right calls during the pandemic, but in hindsight, some of the Fed’s policies were probably too much and lasted too long. More: - Dimon advised the Fed not to worry about the market volatility rate increases may cause unless the volatility affects the economy.
- Dimon said the war in Ukraine and the sanctions on Russia are already having a substantial economic impact on the U.S. and Europe.
- The U.S. is now expecting a 2022 GDP growth of 2.5% compared to the 3% growth previously estimated.
- Europe’s economy is expected to grow ~2% in 2022, compared to 4.5% estimated before the war.
- Dimon noted that the war in Ukraine has jeopardized the world order and could affect geopolitics for decades, but a strong U.S. global leadership is the best course for the world and the U.S., and without this, chaos would prevail.
- Dimon notes that while it is possible and hopeful for all the events to have peaceful resolutions, we should prepare for potential negative outcomes.
- Dimon said JPMorgan Chase could still lose about $1B over time from its exposure in Russia.
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 A message from EQUITYBEE In order to attract and retain talent, some companies are now giving employees more flexible stock options. What’s in it for them? - ESOs can turn into a financially life-changing opportunity. That’s why workplaces use them as an incentive.
- Getting a share of the company gives employees a sense of ownership and connection.
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On Saturday, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said it would change its confidentiality laws that prevent foreign-listed companies from providing sensitive financial information to foreign regulators. The CSRC said the existing rules have become outdated. The change in Beijing’s policy comes as about 270 Chinese companies listed in the U.S. risk being delisted if U.S. regulators can’t review their audits for three consecutive years. More: - Last month, the U.S. SEC flagged more than 10 Chinese companies that declined to let U.S. regulators review their most recent audits.
- The companies include China’s Twitter equivalent, Weibo, and its search engine giant Baidu, which could be delisted in 2024.
- Some of the largest U.S.-listed Chinese companies have made another listing in Hong Kong to mitigate risk.
- Chinese companies listed in the U.S. have a combined market cap of over $2T.
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 SHEIN website Chinese fast fashion brand SHEIN is considering raising a funding round at a $100B valuation. The online retailer is in talks with investors, including General Atlantic, to raise about $1B. SHEIN was founded in 2012 in China and has operations in Guangzhou, Singapore, and Los Angeles. The company offers over 600,000 items to customers in over 150 countries. More: - According to Crunchbase, SHEIN has raised $553.4M to date; investors include Sequoia Captial, Tiger Global, IDG Capital, and JAFCO Asia.
- If SHEIN achieves its $100B valuation, it will become the third most valuable startup after TikTok’s ByteDance and SpaceX.
- It would also be worth more than popular clothing brands H&M and Zara combined.
- In February, Reuters reported SHEIN was putting its plans for a New York listing this year on hold due to volatile capital markets amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- Reuters also reported SHEIN founder Chris Xu was exploring a citizenship change to Singapore to bypass China’s new and stricter rules for foreign listing.
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Starbucks said it is suspending its share buyback program it announced last fall. In a letter to employees on Monday, interim CEO Howard Schultz said the move would free up cash to invest in the company’s next phase of growth. Schultz resumed his role as Starbucks CEO for the third time on Monday, taking the reins from Kevin Johnson, who announced he would retire at the end of Q1. Starbucks hopes to hire a permanent CEO by fall. More: - In October, Starbucks told investors it would authorize $20B in dividends and share buybacks over the next three years.
- About two-thirds of that spending would go to share repurchases.
- At its last earnings call in February, Starbucks reported it had repurchased 31.1 million shares of stock and had about 17.8 million shares remaining under its current authorization.
- Schultz is expected to lead a town hall meeting with employees at Starbucks Seattle headquarters on Monday.
- Starbucks shares fell 5.4% on news of the buyback pause; it closed at $88.09 on Monday, down 3.7%.
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 Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters The EU is preparing to introduce more sanctions against Russia following reports of its actions in Bucha and other areas around Kyiv. EU ambassadors are expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss more punitive measures against Russia over alleged war crimes committed against unarmed Ukrainian civilians in Bucha, Iripin, Hostomel, and other areas. More: - The EU promised to impose tougher sanctions against Russia and provide more support for the defense of Ukraine.
- Current EU sanctions against Russia include the ban of seven Russian banks from the global SWIFT payments network, a block on certain exports from Russia, a ban on Russian airlines from its airspace, and a freeze on assets belonging to Russian oligarchs and officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- Possible new sanctions proposed by some member states include a ban on Russian ships using EU ports and an embargo on Russian energy supplies like coal, oil, and gas.
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Quick Hits - During a press briefing on Monday, Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam said she would not be seeking a second term. Lam led Hong Kong for the last five years, which saw pro-democracy protests in 2019 and COVID-19 shutdowns in 2020.
- European planemaker Airbus has revoked the contract for a third A350 jet order by Qatar Airways after the airline rejected delivery in an ongoing dispute over damages to the surface of its long-haul jets. Qatar Airways has grounded 23 A350s, bringing the value of compensation it is seeking to $1B.
- As it looks to expand its digital-gaming business, game maker Hasbro has added two industry veterans to its board while fighting off a proxy battle. Discord COO Elizabeth Hamren and VP of special projects for Electronic Arts Blake Jorgensen joined Hasbro's board on April 1.
- Axios reports that long-time SoftBank executive Ronald Fisher is stepping down as the company's head of U.S. investment operations. Ronald will transition to a senior advisory role and will be succeeded by Andrew Kofman. SoftBank Vision Fund CEO Rajeev Misra will oversee the company's U.S. investment decisions moving forward.
- Tesla delivered 310,048 EVs in Q1 2022 and produced 305,407. Model 3 and Model Y accounted for about 95% of the deliveries in the quarter.
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 |  | 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. | |
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