Tech Week: Elon Musk’s Twitter Offer, Amazon’s Inflation Fee & More

Elon Musk Makes $43M Offer for Twitter

Last Thursday (4/14), a little over a week after it was reported that Elon Musk held a 9.1 percent stake in Twitter, he offered to buy the company for about $43 billion and take it private.

Musk said he invested in the company because he believed “in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe,” but he thought it could “neither thrive nor serve” that purpose in its current form.

“As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced,” he wrote in a letter to the company’s chairman, Bret Taylor. He also said it was his “best and final offer,” and if it wasn’t accepted he would have to reevaluate his “position as a shareholder.”

In response, the company issued a statement saying, “The Twitter Board of Directors will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders.” (CNBC)

Amazon to Start Charging Sellers Inflation Fee

Amazon said in the next couple of weeks it will start adding a fuel and inflation surcharge of about 5 percent to the fees it collects from third-party sellers in the United States who use its fulfillment services. The e-commerce giant is seeking to offset some of its own higher costs due to soaring inflation. (CNBC)

Amazon Drone Delivery Program Troubled by Safety Concerns

An investigation of Amazon’s drone delivery program by Bloomberg revealed that the program has struggled with technical challenges and safety concerns, including a serious crash last June that caused a brush fire and prompted federal regulators to question the airworthiness of the company’s drone. The company said crashes are expected with rigorous testing of experimental aircraft, but current and former employees of the company said it was doing what it has long done: putting speed ahead of safety in order to beat the competition. (INSURANCE JOURNAL)

MS Creates Broadband Expansion Office

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) signed the “Broadband Expansion and Accessibility of Mississippi Act” (HB 1029), creating a new office that will oversee the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to expand broadband internet access across the state. According to some estimates, 40 percent of the state currently lacks such access. (MISSISSIPPI TODAY [RIDGELAND], STATE NET)

Meta Testing Sale of Virtual Goods in Metaverse

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is currently testing new tools that would allow creators to sell virtual goods and experiences in worlds they develop on the company’s virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds. In recent months companies and individuals have been buying everything from art to real estate in virtual worlds. (CNBC)

-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK