Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla (TSLA) -), SpaceX, xAI, Neuralink and the Boring Company, and the owner and product lead of X (Twitter), seems to always have something of a hectic week. It's hard to not be busy when operating that sheer quantity of businesses.
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The past week was no exception. X's new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, shared several interesting insights in her first-ever interview as the company's chief executive. Tesla, meanwhile, noted some changes in its C-suite, and both Neuralink and SpaceX took big steps forward.
And, of course, the Zuckerberg fight seems like it's on. And it's happening in Italy.
X (Twitter) is on the verge of breaking even
In her first-ever interview since stepping into the chief executive's chair over at Twitter, Linda Yaccarino, beyond breaking down what exactly she's been up to over the past two months, explained that the social media platform is "pretty close to breakeven."
This statement comes less than a month after Musk shared that Twitter was "negative cash flow, due to ~50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load."
She noted that, beyond subscription service revenue growing, she has been in personal talks with a number of advertisers who have temporarily paused their spending on X to attempt to cajole them back to the platform. And it's working; Coca-Cola returned to the platform in May.
"What a great place for advertisers to participate and take advantage of the real-time communication that's going on," Yaccarino said of X.
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Yaccarino also broke down X's new content moderation and brand safety tools, once again touting the number that 99.9% of all impressions on X are "healthy."
When asked to explain how X defines healthy, Yaccarino didn't provide a direct answer, saying instead: "Free expression at its core, will really only survive when someone you don't agree with says something you don't agree with."
These claims of returning advertisers and breaking even come just a few days after Musk promised to cover the legal fees of anyone who was fired for posting or liking anything on X.
"If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill," Musk said Aug. 5. "No limit. Please let us know."
This stunt comes just a few weeks after Twitter was slapped with a $500 million lawsuit for allegedly refusing to pay at least half a billion in severance to the thousands of employees Musk laid off upon taking over at Twitter.
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Tesla's CFO stepped down
Zachary Kirkhorn, Tesla's CFO since 2019, unexpectedly stepped down Aug. 7. The company's stock was not majorly affected by the change in the C-suite lineup, trading down around 1% in after-hours following the announcement.
"He was able to be an effective liaison communicator between Elon and other executives," Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments, a Tesla investor, told Reuters. "That would be a skill set that is hard to come by and very valuable but hard to quantify."
Kirkhorn, who will stick around at Tesla until the end of the year, was with the company for 13 years.
"I would like to thank Zach Kirkhorn for his many contributions to Tesla over the course of 13 often difficult years. Much appreciated and best wishes for the next stage of his career," Musk said.
Tesla's stock slid slightly throughout the week, before making up some of the lost ground on Friday.
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SpaceX takes a big step forward with Starship
SpaceX conducted a static fire of its Starship booster Aug. 6.
It wasn't a perfect test, with four of the booster's 33 engines shutting down prematurely, but, unlike last time there was a big Starship test, this time there were no explosions.
SpaceX engineer John Insprucker said: "That moves us another step closer to our next flight test."
Starship Super Heavy Booster pic.twitter.com/3065srPugD
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 8, 2023
The static fire came a few days after the company ran a "full-pressure test" of a new system at its Starship launch site without securing (or even applying for) the proper environmental permits that would have allowed the company to discharge industrial wastewater into the surrounding area, according to CNBC.
“Industrial process water is a regulated pollutant under the Clean Water Act,” environmental engineer Eric Roesch told CNBC in an interview. “Heat, silt and a range of chemicals that mix into wastewater will degrade the biological integrity of any surrounding wetlands, and erode water quality over time.”
Environmental groups brought a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration in May for allowing SpaceX to launch without fully addressing the environmental impact rocket launches will have on the surrounding area.
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Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/hyr81mdZTU
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 11, 2023
Neuralink rakes in $280 million
Of Musk's many ventures, Neuralink is probably his most unusual one. The company is working on developing implantable brain chips, and investors seem to be really bullish on its potential
The company said it raised $280 million in a recent funding round, though it is unclear at what valuation the investments were made. This most recent round -- which comes just a few months after the company secured approval for its first human clinical trial -- was led by Peter Thiel's Founder Fund.
The company was valued at around $5 billion in June, according to Reuters.
"We're extremely excited about this next chapter at Neuralink," the company said.
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The Musk-Zuck cage match is happening in Italy
After weeks of uncertainty regarding the heavily-hyped cage match between Mark Zuckerberg and Musk, it seems like it's happening after all, though a date still has yet to be confirmed. What Musk did say, however, is that he's going for a gladiator vibe.
He said Aug. 11 that the fight will be managed by his and Zuckerberg's teams, rather than the UFC, adding that it will be live-streamed on both X and Meta's platforms.
"Everything in camera frame will be ancient Rome, so nothing modern at all," he said. "I spoke to the PM of Italy and Minister of Culture. They have agreed on an epic location."
⚔️ Gladiator ⚔️
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2023
He hinted that Twitter Blue subscribers, as well as those users who subscribe to Musk's own account, will get bonus content from the fight.
"Everything done will pay respect to the past and present of Italy," Musk said. "And all proceeds go to veterans."
Timing is still unclear as Musk said that he needs minor surgery, which will necessitate a recovery of "only a few months."
But he's still confident in his chances.
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If the size difference is big enough, this is absolutely true. No way lil X is putting me in a choke hold no matter how skilled he is lol.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 11, 2023
