Twitter officially files a lawsuit against Elon Musk

The online platform accuses the Tesla boss of breaking agreements. Also, Spotify is buying popular song guessing game Heardle and Gopuff is laying off 10 percent of its workforce.

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

The top topics:

Twitter has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk in the US state of Delaware after the billionaire said he was canceling his $44 billion deal to buy the company. The online platform said that after entering into a binding merger agreement, Musk “refuses to bow to his obligations to Twitter and its shareholders because the deal he has signed no longer serves his personal interests”. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, marks the beginning of a potentially lengthy legal battle. Twitter does not want Musk to be released from the deal and is demanding that he pay the agreed $54.20 per share for the company. Musk, on the other hand, is aiming to be left out of the agreement.

According to experts, the outcome of the lawsuit could be unpredictable: a judge could force Musk to close the deal or fine him $1 billion. Other scenarios, including a settlement or renegotiation of the purchase price, are also conceivable. According to Bloomberg, Twitter is aiming for a four-day trial in September. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt, CNBC, The Information, Bloomberg und Techcrunch]

On Gründerszene you read today: The Berlin HR startup secured an impressive 50 million euros Workmotion currently in a series B financing round. Former McKinsey consultant and Uber manager Carsten Lebtig and his co-founders Karim Zaghoul and Felix Steffens want to use their tool to make it easier for companies to onboard talent internationally. With us you can exclusively see the 22-page pitch deck with which they convinced VCs like Picus Capital or Xange. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

And here are the other headlines of the night:

Spotify has announced that it Heardle, a song guessing game, for an undisclosed amount. The deal is part of Spotify’s plan to make the app more interactive to diversify its revenue streams. Once a day, Heardle asks users to guess a song based on its opening notes. Players have six chances to recognize the song. According to Spotify, “millions” of gamers use Heardle. The game’s look and feel will remain the same and it will still remain free. [Mehr bei Axios und CNBC]

Gopuff is shedding 10 percent of its global workforce. The layoffs affect about 1,500 employees, according to a letter to investors. The delivery startup is also closing 76 warehouses, about 12 percent of its network, in the US while expanding its services in other higher-performing locations. The current cuts are an attempt to help the company become profitable by 2024, the letter said. Gopuff was valued at $15 billion last year. The company was reportedly targeting an IPO this year, but has put those plans on hold for now. [Mehr bei CNBC]

Other layoffs: Meta has terminated a contract with ABM Industries, a janitorial and systems engineering company. More than 350 employees will lose their jobs this month as a result. Microsoft has announced that it will lay off almost one percent of its workforce. The company said it was the result of a “realignment of business groups and roles.” Tesla lays off 229 employees who are part of the company’s autopilot team. According to a California regulatory filing, the company is closing the San Mateo, California office where they worked. The layoffs are part of the staff cuts announced by Elon Musk last month. [Mehr bei CNBC, Bloomberg und Techcrunch]

Peloton has announced that it will stop producing its own bikes and treadmills and outsource manufacturing to partners. The training equipment manufacturer wants to reduce costs with this. According to an insider, the New York-based company plans to cut around 570 jobs at its Tonic Fitness Technology unit, a Taiwan-based company that Peloton bought in 2019. Peloton’s shares, which have lost about three-quarters of their value this year, rose 2.8 percent in afternoon trade. [Mehr bei Reuters und Techcrunch]

Investment: XPeng Roboticsthe subsidiary of the Chinese electric car manufacturer XPeng, has raised $100 million. The financing was led by venture capital firm IDG Capital. The company expects its first robots to enter homes within the next two years. Animoca Brands, a crypto investor and game developer, has raised $75 million. The Hong Kong-based company is valued at $5.9 billion, about the same as in a round earlier in the year. Animoca develops games like The Sandbox and invests in Axie Infinity, Opensea and Dapper Labs. The software manufacturer Singlestore has raised $116 million in a funding round led by Goldman Sachs. The California company did not provide any information on the exact assessment. However, it is said that one has attained the status of a unicorn. [Mehr bei CNBC, Bloomberg und Reuters]

Our reading tip on Gründerszene: Gorillas made him a millionaire: Jörg Kattner invested in these companies after he left. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]

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Happy Wednesday!

Your Gründerszene editors