Elon Musk promises $0 salary for Twitter’s board following “poison pill” introduction, Amazon commissions a racial equity audit, and Tesla employees in its Shanghai factory are being made to sleep in the building due to COVID-19 cases.
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That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Wednesday, April 20, and I’m your host, Tom Li.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, criticized the board of Twitter on Monday after the company adopted a “poison pill” to protect itself from the second-biggest shareholder’s $43 billion cash buyout offer. In response to a user’s post criticizing the board, Musk tweeted “Board salary will be $0 if my bid succeeds, so that’s ~$3M/year saved right there.” Musk, who describes himself as a “free speech absolutist”, did not elaborate on the tweet. Additionally, in a series of tweet replies, former CEO Jack Dorsey called out Twitter’s board on Saturday, and said, “it’s consistently been the dysfunction of the company.” Twitter shares went up about four per cent this morning, which is still significantly below Musk’s offer of $54.20 per share. Since disclosing his stake during the first week of April, shares have increased roughly 15 per cent.
Source: Global News
Amazon has commissioned an independent “racial equity audit” that will look into whether the its business fuels discrimination for its 1 million hourly workers. The company, which is the second-largest employer in the U.S., said it will release the findings publicly, but did not give a specific timeline. This move comes following shareholder pressure on Amazon to look into how its business practices could result in racial inequity, Business Insider reports. Last year, the company was hit with many lawsuits that accuse Amazon managers and HR employees of racial, ethnic, and gender discrimination. At last year’s annual shareholder’s meeting, the New York State Common Retirement Fund filed a proposal asking Amazon to review what steps it’s taking to address and fix these issues. While that resolution ultimately failed, it did garner 44 per cent shareholder support, according to Bloomberg.
Source: Business Insider
Tesla employees at the company’s Shanghai factory are reportedly being made to live at work following a three-week shutdown due to a recent outbreak of COVID-19 cases in China. Tesla will provide sleeping bags and mattresses to its employees, who will be made to sleep on the floor while operating in a so-called ‘closed-loop’ system, Bloomberg reported. Tesla is one of the numerous manufacturers in Shanghai that are preparing to resume operations following the government-mandated lockdown in March. However, multinational companies have been putting pressure on the government to ease its restrictions so that they can resume production. The electric car manufacturer sent out a note to its employees that details some of the conditions that they will be forced to live under. On top of the sleeping materials, there will be designated areas on the floor for people to sleep on, in addition to areas for showering, catering and entertainment. Employees will be given three meals a day and an allowance of 400 yuan which is about $63.
Source: Gizmodo
And now for something different. A report by The Verge revealed that the FBI has an 83-page guide to internet lingo. The “guide” to internet slang compiles a huge list of abbreviations, including some pretty absurd ones. The FBI’s guide was made available through a 2014 Freedom of Information Act request. It notes that it contains almost 3000 different examples of slang.
Here are some of the strangest examples:
- D-I-T-Y-I-D: which means “Did I tell you I’m depressed?”
- B-T-W-I-T-I-A-I-L-W-U: which means, “By the way, I think I am in love with you”.
- L-U-L: which means “lame uncomfortable laugh.”
The bizarre list goes on with even more abbreviations that have probably never actually been used before.
Source: The Verge
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash briefings or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Thursday morning. If you have a suggestion or a tip, drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thank you for listening, I’m Tom Li.