Investors, including Larry Ellison, are also contributing more than $7 billion to the deal. Also: Peloton wants to sell shares and Mercedes is naming prices for autonomous driving systems.
Good Morning! While you slept, work continued elsewhere in the digital scene.
The top topics:
Elon Musk should after the takeover of Twitter will probably act as CEO of the short message service for several months, according to a media report. In addition, the Tesla boss is said to have found a group of investors who want to participate in his offer for Twitter with more than seven billion US dollars. Their investments reduce the personal risk Musk must take to close the $44 billion deal for the social media company.
Among the 19 investors are a Saudi prince and a bitcoin exchange. At the top of the list is Larry Ellison, Oracle’s co-founder and current CTO, who is committing $1 billion to the purchase. Ellison said he was “very close friends” with Musk. Ellison joined Tesla’s board of directors in 2018. [Mehr bei Wall Street Journal, The Verge und CNBC]
on Founder scene: Still lying They have Renners focus on Personio – this is important for the founder to emphasize. That’s why he’s not actively looking for investment opportunities. Nevertheless, the 37-year-old has already made it to more than 15 holdings brought. Our overview shows the companies in which he has previously invested his money. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]
And here are the other headlines of the night:
Peloton Interactive is considering selling a sizeable minority stake, The Wall Street Journal reports. The fitness company, which was booming during the pandemic but is now suffering significant losses, is looking for potential investors. The latter could be industry players or private equity firms, the report says. A stake of around 15 to 20 percent is aimed for. The talks are apparently at an early stage, so far there is no guarantee that the New York-based company will find a buyer. [Mehr bei Wall Street Journal]
Mercedes announced prices for its autonomous driving system for the first time. The group equips its S-Class and EQS worldwide with a Level 3 system that costs from 5000 euros. According to the “Handelsblatt”, this is not only a declaration of war on Tesla in terms of price. The drive pilot works up to 64 kilometers per hour and in this context can do more than Tesla’s “autopilot” or the driving aids from BMW and Audi, as the report says. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt]
Shopify had to cope with another setback on the stock exchange on Thursday. Shares of the Canadian company fell 15 percent after the company released first-quarter results that missed analyst estimates. Shopify posted adjusted earnings of 20 cents per share, while Wall Street had expected 63 cents per share. Revenue rose 22 percent year over year to $1.2 billion, also less than analysts had estimated. At the same time, it became known that the company that produces tools for companies to sell products online is the logistics startup Deliverr for $2.1 billion in cash and stock. [Mehr bei The Information und CNBC]
Doordash On the other hand, the stock rose: The share rose by more than ten percent in extended trading after the company had reported sales growth of 35 percent in the first quarter. This suggests that the company’s core business, food delivery, still has room for growth even after the pandemic-related hype. Revenue exceeded the estimated $1.38 billion at $1.46 billion. This corresponded to a loss per share of 0.48 cents. [Mehr bei CNBC]
JD.com, Pinduoduo and other large Chinese companies are threatened with delisting in the USA. The US Securities and Exchange Commission has put more than 80 Chinese companies under scrutiny for failing to comply with disclosure requirements. Chinese companies listed in the US are struggling under pressure from Washington and Beijing. While US regulators are demanding access to companies’ books, Beijing is preventing companies from doing so by stipulating that only domestic firms can have access to audit records. In addition to the large e-commerce groups are also the online video site Bilibilithe online video game company Netease and the electric car manufacturers Xpeng and Nio newly added to the SEC list. [Mehr bei The Information]
Our reading tip on Gründerszene: For around a third of „Migrant Founders“ A current study by the startup association shows that the lack of networks is a central problem. Around one in five founders in Germany has a migration background. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]
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Happy Friday!
Your Gründerszene editors
Source: https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/business/elon-musk-ceo-twitter/
