Media report: Twitter paid whistleblowers seven million dollars for silence Media report: Twitter paid whistleblowers seven million dollars for silence

Elon Musk’s attorney made claims at a hearing. Also: T-Mobile announces share buyback program and Lucid loses German top manager.

Good morning! While you slept, work continued elsewhere in the digital scene.

The top topics:

Twitter agreed in June to pay about $7 million to the whistleblower whose allegations will form part of Elon Musk’s lawsuit against the company. This was reported by the “Wall Street Journal”, citing an insider. Whistleblower Peiter Zatko, who was fired from Twitter in January, accused the social media company of falsely claiming it had a solid security plan and making misleading claims about countermeasures against hackers and spam accounts.

Zatko will meet with the US Senate Judiciary Committee on September 13 to discuss the allegations. According to the media report, the settlement was finalized a few days before his whistleblower complaint was filed. As part of the settlement, Zatko agreed to a non-disclosure agreement that prohibits him from speaking publicly about his time on Twitter or disparaging the company. [Mehr bei Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg und Reuters]

On Gründerszene you read today: Investors receive thousands of pitch decks. Therefore, it is not only important to stand out from the crowd, but also not to be crafty mistake to do when creating the slides. An expert wrote down for us which mistakes founders keep making with pitch decks. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

And here are the other headlines of the night:

T-Mobile announced a $14 billion share buyback program. The US subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom announced in a mandatory notification to the US Securities and Exchange Commission that securities with a volume of up to three billion dollars could be bought back this year. Deutsche Telekom in particular could benefit from the move, as it does not hold the majority of shares in its US subsidiary. If T-Mobile buys back shares while Telekom remains silent, Telekom’s percentage of its US subsidiary increases. It was initially unclear what percentage the group would hold in T-Mobile after the buyback program was completed. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt]

Peter Hochholdinger, Head of Production at Lucid, and other high-ranking managers are leaving the electric car manufacturer. The German manager set up electric car production for Lucid in the new factory in Arizona. Alongside Hochholdinger is David Peel, Director of “Advanced Production Processes”. Program director Ralph Jakobs is also said to have left the company. The farewells hit the Californian company in a difficult phase: it had to scale back its production targets twice this year. In addition, it was announced that Mercedes-Benz and Rivian to partner to produce electric vans on a large scale in Europe. The joint venture, announced Thursday, will help each of the two automakers scale their custom-built large battery-electric van businesses. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt und Techcrunch]

Coinbase is actively involved in a lawsuit against the US Treasury Department. The lawsuit was filed by six users – including two Coinbase employees – by Tornado Cash submitted. This is a service that helps ensure crypto transactions cannot be tracked. The lawsuit alleges that the department exceeded its authority in sanctioning Tornado Cash for alleged money laundering violations. Crypto enthusiasts argue that the sanctioning could have a negative impact on the tech industry. “It sets a dangerous precedent,” said Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer. [Mehr bei Axios, CNBC und The Information]

Mullen Automotivean electric vehicle manufacturer based in Brea, California, has a controlling interest in Bollinger Motors acquired. The $148 million acquisition announced Thursday gives Mullen a 60 percent controlling stake in the Michigan-based startup, which began manufacturing all-electric commercial vehicles in 2015. Mullen went public in 2021 through a merger with Net Element, but has yet to launch a car. “The combination of Bollinger’s vehicles with our existing EV van programs gives us the opportunity to dominate the entire Class 1-6 light and medium-duty truck segment,” said Mullen CEO David Michery. [Mehr bei Techcrunch]

The shares of Docusign are up 17 percent after the San Francisco-based company reported quarterly sales that beat analysts’ estimates. Tax revenue for the second quarter increased 22 percent to $622.2 million. The stock rose to a high of $68.88 in extended trading after closing at $57.95 in New York. [Mehr bei Bloomberg]

singapurs Whampoa Group intends to invest approximately $100 million in startups through a venture capital fund. Whampoa Digital, the group’s digital asset investment arm, will invest in early-stage Web3 startups. “The venture capital fund will help us expand our presence in this space,” said Shawn Chan, CEO of Whampoa Group. The fund is expected to be launched in the next quarter and has received strong interest from Chinese technology companies and Asian corporate groups, the manager said. [Mehr bei Bloomberg und Reuters]

Our reading tip on Gründerszene: You want to collect millions? scientist figured out how to pitch for it. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

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Happy Friday!

Your Gründerszene editors