Elon Musk bought Twitter and fired several top executives

According to US media reports, the $44 billion deal has been completed. Also: Amazon expects weak Christmas business and Apple presents record sales.

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

The top topics:

Elon Musk has, according to US media reports Twitter Bought it after a lot of back and forth. The $ 44 billion deal has been completed, among other things, reported “CNBC”. As one of the first acts in office, the tech billionaire is said to have fired several top managers who were then escorted out of the Twitter building. Among those laid off are the previous Twitter boss Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and chief lawyer Vijaya Gadde.

The Tesla boss had until 5 p.m. local time on Friday to complete the transaction. Otherwise the deal would still have gone to court. The New York Stock Exchange announced that trading in Twitter shares will be suspended from Friday. In an open letter to Twitter’s advertisers on Thursday, Musk again explained his motives for the purchase and countered fears that the platform could become a hotbed of hate speech and hate speech. [Mehr bei Tagesschau, CNBC und Handelsblatt]

On the founding scene: So controversial the express delivery service Gorillas is also discussed, almost everyone thinks one thing is great: the name. But that could become a problem for the company. A Hamburg entrepreneur sees his brand badly damaged and is now suing the delivery service for damages. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

And here are the other headlines of the night:

Amazon expects weak Christmas business due to high inflation and fears of a recession. The group expects sales of between 140 and 148 billion US dollars in the Christmas quarter. Analysts had expected significantly more. The profit forecast was only between zero and four billion dollars. Amazon shares fell more than 20 percent in after-hours trading. In the third quarter, Amazon earned $2.9 billion compared to $3.2 billion in the same period last year. Revenue grew 15 percent to $127.1 billion. Only in the advertising business was Amazon able to increase sales by a quarter to $9.55 billion. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt, Axios, CNBC und Reuters]

Apple achieved record sales in the past quarter. The group thus exceeded the expectations of the analysts. Sales climbed eight percent year-on-year to $90.1 billion. Profit rose from $20.55 to $20.72 billion. The iPhone continues to be the most important product and contributed around half of sales. iPhone sales rose from $38.9 billion to $42.6 billion. Analysts had expected around one billion more in sales. Apple stock was largely stable in after-hours trading. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt, Bloomberg, Techcrunch und CNBC]

T-Mobile US, the subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, has raised its forecast for the third time this year. For the year as a whole, the number of new contract customers will add up to 6.2 to 6.4 instead of 6.0 to 6.3 million, said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert. In the third quarter, the group gained 854,000 users. However, sales in the past quarter fell short of analyst forecasts at $19.48 billion. Profit was $508 million, down from a loss of $108 million in the same period last year. The stock rose more than 4 percent in after-hours trading. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt]

More quarterly numbers: Of the SAP-Rival Software Inc posted another slump in profits in the third quarter. Operating profit fell by 43 percent to 13.9 million euros. Organic group sales increased by twelve percent to EUR 212.8 million. Also the Korean electronics group Samsung posted a profit break in the third quarter. Although the group posted a sales record, the chip division halved its operating profit year-on-year to around 3.6 billion euros. In addition, it was announced that Samsung promoted the group heir Lee Jae Yong to the chairman of the board of directors. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt und Handelsblatt]

investments and acquisitions: Ascend Elements, a Massachusetts-based lithium-ion battery recycling company, has raised $200 million in Series C funding. The panel was chaired by Fifth Wall Climate. According to researchers, recycling could meet up to 11 percent of lithium needs by 2035. Google has the Avatar startup based in the USA and Czech Republic Alter acquired for approximately $100 million. Alter helps developers and brands to express their virtual identity. As reported by Techcrunch, the acquisition was completed about two months ago, but neither company has disclosed it to the public. [Mehr bei Axios und Techcrunch]

Our reading tip on Gründerszene: There Influencers Paul Ripke is a photographer, owns a fashion label and does business with world stars. How he organizes all his projects? “Not at all”. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

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Happy Friday!

Your Gründerszene editors