The case is one of several triggered by the CEO’s prolific tweeting
A lawyer for Tesla told a US appeals court on Wednesday that a 2018 tweet by chief executive Elon Musk suggesting factory workers would lose stock options if they unionized was not an unlawful threat, because it simply reflected the position of the union.
The tweet came amid the United Auto Workers (UAW) union’s years-long campaign to organize workers at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California. It said: “Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But why pay union dues and give up stock options for nothing?”
Two days after the initial tweet, Musk said in a separate Twitter thread that it was the UAW, and not the company, that opposed stock options.
In March, Tesla appealed an order by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that Musk delete the tweet. According to a judge, the labor board wasn’t “completely out of line,” as Musk’s tweet could be interpreted as a message that “the price you will have to pay if you unionize is you’ll give up your stock options.”
Tesla attorney David Salmons told the hearing on Wednesday that the constitutional right to free speech under the First Amendment “protects an employer’s robust speech about the downsides to unionization.” Taken in context, the tweet is really a “statement about what the union, not the company, will or will not do,” he said.
Meanwhile, a lawyer representing UAW, Daniel Curry, argued to the panel that Musk’s tweet was “a threat of retaliation, not a lawful expression of opinion.” The subsequent message only sowed further confusion, Curry said, adding: “The idea they’re putting out there that a union could take away an employee’s stock options just doesn’t fit with reality.”
Curry also pointed out that Musk’s history of making major announcements and controversial statements on social media would reasonably lead Tesla workers to take him at his word. “That is how Musk uses Twitter. Just like a press release,” he said.
Musk has a long history of controversial tweets, which has led to lawsuits. Tesla is facing a suit from investors over another 2018 post by the CEO, in which he said funding was secured to take the company private. In another case, a British cave explorer unsuccessfully sued Musk for calling him a “pedo guy” on Twitter.
The company lost over a quarter of market value amid the shares’ drop, dragging down other tech stocks
Meta (formerly Facebook) shares dropped around 26% at the opening of trading on Thursday after Facebook’s quarterly report missed earnings expectations. The report also revealed that the number of the social media platform’s global daily active users declined from the previous quarter for the first time on record, to 1.929 billion from 1.93 billion.
Amid the nosedive, the company’s market value plunged by $240 billion to about $660 billion.
Meta blamed Apple and TikTok for Facebook’s poor performance, claiming Apple’s privacy changes to its operating system made it difficult for brands to use advertising mechanisms on Facebook and Instagram.
The report also cited macroeconomic issues like supply chain disruptions as one of the reasons behind low fourth quarter earnings, while in his conversation with investors, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg complained that Facebook is facing growing competition from rivals like TikTok.
Statistics show that at its current level, Meta’s drop is the largest single-day collapse in US market history.
Moreover, the Meta plunge has triggered a sell-off on the tech-oriented Nasdaq composite index, with S&P 500 shedding 1.6%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.8% as of 17:00 GMT. Twitter, Snap, Spotify, and a number of other social media companies were among the stocks which also lost value following Meta’s drop.
Thursday’s stock crash could wipe out around $24 billion, or nearly 20%, of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The drop in Zuckerberg’s wealth from $120 billion to $97 billion would rank among the biggest ever, only rivaled by Tesla co-founder Elon Musk’s fortune swings. Musk lost $35 billion in one day in November last year when Tesla stock dropped after Musk’s Twitter poll on the sale of Tesla shares.
The company says an online shop made profits on the unauthorized sale of NFTs
Sports apparel giant Nike has filed a lawsuit against online reseller StockX in a New York federal court on Thursday for the unauthorized sale of Nike shoe NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
In the court filings, Nike complained that StockX began selling NFTs of its sneakers last month, informing customers they would be able to exchange the virtual tokens for real shoes “in the near future.” The online platform has allegedly sold over 500 Nike-branded NFTs so far.
Nike deemed the action an infringement on its trademarks and said the NFT sales would confuse customers. In the lawsuit, the company demanded an order to block the Nike-associated NFT sales on StockX. It also wants the reseller to pay damages, but the amount has not been disclosed.
The lawsuit states that the NFT sale “inflated prices and murky terms of purchase and ownership,” while also marring Nike’s business reputation.
Nike announced it will release a number of its own virtual products later in February in collaboration with digital art studio RTFKT, which it bought last year.
It is not the first lawsuit over NFTs, which have been gaining in popularity recently. Earlier this month, US rapper Lil Yachty sued music NFT start-up Opulous for trademark infringement, claiming that the firm “maliciously” used his name and image. In January, French luxury design house Hermes sued artist Mason Rothschild over ‘MetaBirkin’ NFTs named after Hermes’ famous Birkin handbags. In November 2021, Miramax studio sued director Quentin Tarantino after he announced plans to auction ‘Pulp Fiction’ movie NFTs.
NFTs are non-fungible tokens, which are units of digital data stored and traded online. Most NFTs are digital files such as photos, videos, and audio recordings.
Billionaire Alberto Bailleres made his fortune in mining and retail, and was also known as an arts and education patron
Billionaire Alberto Bailleres, Mexican gold and silver mining tycoon, has died at the age of 90. The cause of death has not yet been revealed.
Bailleres made his fortune across a range of industries, but started out in gold and silver mining alongside his father, which won him the nickname of Mexico’s ‘King Midas.’ He was the founder of the Industrias Penoles mining company, a global leader in silver production, and owned the Fresnillo silver mine and the largest gold deposits in Mexico.
Bailleres had an estimated net worth of $8.6 billion in 2022, according to Forbes. He owned a number of firms in a variety of sectors from insurance to retail under the umbrella of Grupo BAL.
Bailleres was also known as a prominent supporter of arts and education. He was chairman of the board of trustees of the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM) and a key sponsor in many of Mexico’s other prestigious universities.
“His academic legacy at ITAM is invaluable. He transformed each and every sector and life he touched,” Jose Antonio Meade, a former Mexican finance minister and ITAM graduate, told Reuters.
Bailleres retired from Grupo Bal last spring and handed over the business to his son Alejandro. Last year, the Bailleres family ranked as fourth richest in Mexico and 255th in the world.
The 30-year agreement will boost gas supplies by 10 billion cubic meters and will be settled in euros
Russia’s Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) signed a second long-term contract on Friday for the supply of 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas from the Russian Far East. The agreement comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin is in China on an official visit.
According to Gazprom, the agreement is “an important step in further strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and China in the gas sector.” After the project reaches its full capacity, the volume of Russian pipeline gas supplies to China via the Far East route will reach 48 billion cubic meters per year (including deliveries via the Power of Siberia gas pipeline).
Gazprom’s largest natural gas deposit in the Far East is the Yuzhno-Kirinskoye field, where production is due to begin in 2023.
“The signing of the second contract for the supply of Russian gas to China testifies to the highest level of mutual trust and partnership between our countries and companies. Our Chinese partners from CNPC confirm that Gazprom is a reliable gas supplier,” the head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, said. Russian energy supplies to China have reached record highs, according to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov.
Gazprom and the CNPC signed their first 30-year contract on gas supplies via the Power of Siberia pipeline in 2014. The 3,000km (1,864 mile) cross-border pipeline, the first natural gas pipeline between Russia and China, started deliveries three years ago.
In 2015, the sides agreed on gas supplies via the western route, or the Power of Siberia 2, which will deliver gas from Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula, where Russia’s biggest gas reserves are. The new pipeline will be able to transfer up to 50 bcm more gas through Mongolia to China annually.
In January, Gazprom completed an analysis of the project to build the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline through Mongolia to China, which will make it possible to supply up to 50 billion cubic meters of gas per year to China.
Analysts say Moscow’s ‘gas pivot’ to China poses a challenge for Europe, which has been struggling with skyrocketing energy prices in recent months. Russia remains Europe’s main gas supplier, but the changes it is currently making to its energy transport infrastructure should be taken seriously, analysts note.
Europe’s 541 bcm of annual gas consumption is more than China’s 331 bcm, but the latter is expected to rise to 526 bcm by 2030 as Beijing reduces its dependence on coal. Consulting firm McKinsey estimates that China’s demand for gas will double by 2035. Its annual gas consumption is expected to reach 620 bcm by 2040 and overtake oil as the leading fuel source by 2050, according to data made public in September by Chinese energy giant Sinopec.
