Plus, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes sentenced to 11.25 years in prison.
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According to sources, about 1,200 Twitter employees resigned on Thursday following Elon Musk’s email asking them to commit to what he called “extremely hardcore.” Musk said moving forward, employees would need to work long hours at high intensity to build Twitter 2.0 and gave employees a choice to commit to the new working condition or leave with a three-month severance. More: - Twitter had about 7,500 full-time employees in late October.
- The company laid off about 3,700 earlier this month as part of restructuring and cost-cutting measures.
- With 1,200 workers resigning on Thursday, Twitter is estimated to have about 2,600 full-time employees left.
- On Friday, Musk emailed employees asking Twitter’s software engineers who can make it to the company’s San Francisco head office to come for a 2 p.m. PT meeting.
- Musk also asked the engineers to email him a bullet point summary of code commits they have achieved in the last six months.
- The new CEO said the meeting was to help him better understand Twitter’s tech stack.
In related news: - Twitter’s former Head of Trust and Safety, Yoel Roth, published a guest essay with the New York Times detailing his reasons for resigning from the company and some of the huddles Twitter faces moving forward.
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Securities regulators in the Bahamas acknowledged that they had ordered Sam Bankman-Fried to transfer FTX's digital assets into their custody. The regulators said the Supreme Court of the Bahamas granted them the authority. More: - In a U.S. court filing on Thursday, FTX said it has evidence that Bahamian regulators told former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to access FTX systems and transfer digital assets belonging to the company after it filed for bankruptcy protection.
- FTX said the actions by Bahamian regulators call into serious question their request to be recognized as liquidators in the bankruptcy.
- According to crypto research firm Elliptic, the $477M in crypto assets reported stolen over the weekend is tied to the actions of Bahamian regulators.
- The reported "hack" could have been the Bahamian government seizing FTX's assets.
- In a statement released by Bahamian securities regulators, they noted they were unaware that FTX Digital Markets, an FTX subsidiary based in the Bahamas, is a party to the U.S. Chapter 11 Bankruptcy proceedings.
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The Justice Department has opened an antitrust probe into Ticketmaster's parent company Live Nation Entertainment following its handling of Taylor Swift concert tickets. According to sources, the investigation will focus on whether Live Nation has abused its power in the live music industry. More: - Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster in 2010; the Justice Department approved the merger.
- The Justice Department asked Live Nation to sell some of its businesses as part of the merger agreement.
- It also banned the company from retaliating against concert venues that decide to use other ticket providers.
- Many in D.C. and within the Music industry have called on regulators to intervene following Ticketmaster's technical difficulties with selling Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour" concert tickets.
- Live Nation is accused of restricting competition and harming consumers.
- Live Nation also manages artists and has roughly 100 managers working with more than 450 artists.
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Qatar announced on Friday it is banning the sale of alcohol at its World Cup stadiums two days before the start of the tournament. The Gulf state, which does not allow the consumption of alcohol except at high-end hotels, had agreed to allow Budweiser, one of the FIFA World Cup sponsors to be able to sell beer in designated areas around the eight stadiums hosting the football games. More: - Budweiser has a $75M sponsorship deal with FIFA.
- In a later deleted tweet, Budweiser reacted to news of the alcohol ban with “Well, this is awkward…”
- Alcoholic drinks will only be available in hospitality suites at the stadiums, which cost upwards of $20,000, and inside designated areas around the capital city of Doha.
- Alcohol-free beer will still be available at stadiums.
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Carvana is laying off about 8% of its workforce, or about 1,500 employees. The online used-car retailer pointed to the economic downturn and the company’s uncertain future as the reason for the job cuts. More: - Earlier this month, the company reported weaker-than-expected Q3 earnings.
- The company posted $3.39B in revenue, down 3% YoY.
- Carvana said it only sold 102,570 vehicles in the quarter, down 8% YoY.
- As interest rates have risen this year, consumers have cut back or postponed purchasing or financing a new car.
- Carvana shares closed at $8.06 on Friday, down 3% for the day; the company is down nearly 97% YTD.
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Shares of LGBTQ dating platform Grindr rose as high as $71.51 on Friday at its debut on the NYSE. Grindr trades under the ticker symbol GRND merged with SPAC Tiga Acquisition. Grindr opened at $16.90 per share before surging to more than $70. More: - Grindr shares closed at $36.50 on Friday.
- Grindr’s debut comes as fellow dating apps have seen their values drop this year.
- Bumble and Match are down 31.7% and 64.9%, respectively.
- Grindr generated about $90M in revenue in H1 2022.
- The platform had about 11 million monthly active users as of 2021.
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Quick Hits - Apis Cor holds the current Guinness World Record for the largest 3D-printed building on Earth. Invest in the future of construction.*
- Theranos founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes was sentenced to 135 months (11.25 years) in prison on Friday. Holmes was convicted on four charges of fraud in January. She has 14 days to appeal her conviction.
- The FDA has approved chicken grown in a lab by Berkeley food tech company Upside Foods as safe for human consumption.
- The Biden administration has asked the Supreme Court to lift the federal appeals court order blocking the student loan relief program. The administration filed the request with Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who handles emergency matters from the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which blocked the program.
- The U.S. has granted immunity to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salma, noting the decision was based on Prince Mohammed being recently appointed as the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia.
- The Justice Department has appointed special counsel Jack Smith to manage investigations involving former President Donald Trump. Smith would oversee an investigation of Trump’s handling of government documents and parts of a probe into potential interference in the 2020 presidential elections.
*This is a sponsored listing.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a writer for Inside.com; she writes the daily Inside Business newsletter. Her interests include finance, technology, and entrepreneurship. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending concerts and music festivals, traveling, and exploring. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or on LinkedIn. |   | | 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 and 1972 Fords. | |
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