According to sources, Elon Musk plans to cut roughly 50% of Twitter's workforce, or about 3,700 jobs. Musk also plans to end Twitter's work-from-anywhere policy and would require remaining employees to report to offices. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO plans to inform impacted employees on Friday. More: - According to sources, Musk and his advisers have been weighing various scenarios for job cuts and other policy changes at Twitter.
- One such scenario includes offering laid-off workers 60 days of severance pay.
- Musk has been under immense pressure to find ways to reduce costs and boost revenue at the social media company.
- Twitter is projected to have an annual financing cost of about $1B after taking on $13B in debt to complete the takeover deal.
- Twitter's interest expense in 2021 was about $50M.
In related news: - Several brands have joined General Motors in suspending their ads on Twitter, citing concerns that Musk would scale back content moderation and uncertainty about the company's future.
- Companies that have paused their ads include Pfizer, General Mills, Mondelez International, and Volkswagen.
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Bank of England increased its interest rate by 0.75% on Thursday, bringing its benchmark rate to 3%, its highest level since 2008. The central bank signaled it would not need to raise rates much more to bring inflation back to its 2% target. More: - The inflation rate in the U.K. rose to 10.1% in September compared to a year ago, its highest level in 40 years.
- The increase was driven primarily by food and energy costs.
- The central bank said raising rates to 5.25% would send the nation into the longest recession since WWII, and inflation would fall to zero in three years.
- If the interest rate stays at 3%, the bank expects inflation to peak at 10.9% in Q4 before falling to 5.6% by the end of 2023 and 2.2% by 2024.
- It expects inflation to fall below its 2% target in 2025.
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German energy giant Uniper reported a net loss of $39.3B for the first nine months of the year, its largest loss to date. Uniper was Germany’s largest importer of Russian gas before Russia halted gas deliveries. In September, the German government said it would nationalize Uniper to help stabilize the company and protect its customers. More: - Uniper said the loss includes about €10B ($9.8B) to replace gas volumes on the spot market and €31B ($30.25B) worth of future gas replacement procurement.
- Uniper’s net debt for the first nine months of the year was ~€10.9B ($10.6B), up from €324M ($316.2M) reported during the same period last year.
- The company said it was restructuring its gas portfolio to minimize risks and end losses resulting from Russian gas reductions by 2024.
- Uniper shares are down more than 90% YTD; it was down 4% during morning trading on Thursday.
- Last month Germany announced a €264B ($257.64B) financial package to lessen the effects of an energy crisis on its households and businesses.
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Stripe and Lyft announced layoffs on Thursday, joining a growing list of companies announcing job cuts in the tech sector. In a note sent to Stripe employees, CEO Patrick Collison said the company was reducing its headcount by 14%. Ride-hailing company Lyft made a similar announcement on Thursday, saying it was cutting about 13% of its staff. More: - Stripe is cutting about 1,000 jobs, leaving the company with approximately 7,000 employees.
- Collison said the company overhired and needed to make cuts amid rising inflation, higher interest rates, tighter investment budgets, and fears of a looming recession.
- Lyft's layoffs will total about 700 jobs.
- In a memo sent to employees, Lyft co-founders John Zimmer and Logan Green cited a possible recession and rising costs of ride-share insurance.
- In July, Lyft laid off about 2% of its staff or 60 people.
- Lyft has about 5,000 employees, not including its drivers, which it classifies as contract workers.
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Warner Bros. Discovery released its Q3 earnings on Thursday, reporting weaker-than-expected results. The company posted $9.82B in revenue, down 11% YoY and slightly missing analysts’ expectations. The company recorded a net loss of $2.3B, or 95 cents a share. More: - CEO David Zaslav announced that the combined version of the company’s HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming platforms would be launched in the spring, earlier than the previously announced summer 2023 launch.
- AT&T and Discovery completed the spinoff and merger of Warner Bros. Discovery in April, and the new entity has since undertaken several changes and cost-cutting measures.
- The company added 2.8 million direct-to-consumer streaming customers in Q3, bringing its total global subscriber number to 94.9 million.
- Warner Bros. Discovery shares fell more than 3% in extending trading on Thursday; the company is down more than 50% YTD.
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Amazon announced it is suspending hiring for its corporate roles. The company had previously suspended new hires for its corporate retail positions. In a memo sent to employees, HR chief Beth Galetti said the company hired too quickly in the last few years and was suspending hiring amid economic uncertainties. More: - Amazon joins a growing list of tech companies that have either announced layoffs, paused, or slowed hiring.
- Amazon has about 1.54 million employees globally.
- Last week, the e-commerce giant reported weaker-than-expected earnings for the Q3, slightly missing analysts’ expectations for revenue.
- Amazon shares closed at $89.30 on Thursday, down ~3% for the day.
- The company is down ~48% YTD.
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- Peloton reported a 23% drop in sales to $617M for Q3, missing analysts’ expectations. The connected fitness company reported a much narrower loss of $408.4M compared to the $1.3B reported in Q2.
- Ford unveiled a 2023 Ford Transit Trail Van aimed at outdoor adventurers. The U.S. automaker hopes to take advantage of the boom in sales of recreational trailers and vehicles, which many users repurpose into live-in travel vehicles.
- Fidelity Investments plans to launch a commission-free crypto trading platform for retail investors. Fidelity has nearly $10T in assets under management.
- Robinhood reported Q3 revenue of $361M, down ~1% YoY. The company narrowed its loss to $175M from the $1.32B reported during the same period last year. NOTE: Inside.com founder and CEO Jason Calacanis is an investor in Robinhood.
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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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