Elon Musk and BBC Reporter Clash In Twitter Spaces, Get Paid To Hack OpenAI, US States Stockpile Alternative Abortion Pill: Today's Top Stories

Benzinga

Elon Musk, BBC Reporter Clash In Twitter Spaces Over Hate Speech, Layoffs, And COVID-19

• On Tuesday night, Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk was interviewed by James Clayton, the technology reporter for BBC North America. During the course of the interview, conducted on Twitter Spaces, the billionaire entrepreneur turned the tables and, for a time, became the interviewer.
• Clayton raised several questions surrounding layoffs at Twitter and the issues of hate speech and misinformation on the platform.
• Addressing freedom of speech over misinformation. "Who is to say something is misinformation, is it the BBC?"

Get Paid To Hack OpenAI: ChatGPT Parent Launches $20K Bug Bounty Program

• Following the ban in Italy, OpenAI, the company responsible for the popular chatbot chatGPT, has invited users to discover flaws in its artificial intelligence systems, offering a maximum reward of $20,000. 
• The OpenAI Bug Bounty Initiative compensates individuals according to the severity of the bugs they report. The program commences with a base reward of $200 to $6,500 for each identified vulnerability. 

US Losing Edge In Crypto Industry Due To Regulatory Issues, a16z Report Shows

• As regulatory scrutiny of digital asset firms continues to escalate in the U.S., there has been a decline in America's leadership position in the crypto industry, according to a new report released by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, also known as 'a16z.'
• The report' State of Crypto' cited a steady stream of enforcement actions and court cases linked to this decline.

Walmart Closes Four Chicago Stores As Losses Run In Millions

• Walmart Inc WMT said it has decided to close four of its stores in Chicago.
• The retailer said the Chicago stores have not been profitable since the first store was opened nearly 17 years ago.
• The stores, collectively, have been losing tens of millions of dollars a year, and the annual losses nearly doubled in just the last five years.

Emerson Electric Acquires National Instruments For $8.2B

• Emerson Electric Co EMR has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire National Instruments Corp NATI after a long quest for the maker of measurement systems.
• Emerson will acquire NI for $60 per share in cash at an equity value of $8.2 billion.
• The $60 per share deal price represents a 49% premium to NI's closing share price as of Jan. 12, 2023, the day before NI's public announcement of a strategic review.

Boeing's Q1 Deliveries Reach 130 Planes, Surpassing Airbus

• Boeing Co BA announced 130 deliveries across its commercial and defense operations for 1Q23, an increase from 95 deliveries last year. The 1Q23 deliveries included 111 deliveries of 737 MAX.
• Airbus SE EADSY recently reported 1Q23 deliveries of 127, down 11% Y/Y, falling short of Boeing's 130.
• For March, deliveries totaled 64, an increase of 36% Y/Y, which included 52 deliveries for 737 MAX jets.

Financial Times

Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son Set To Finalize Arm Semiconductor Listing Deal for IPO by This Week

• Softbank Group Corp SFTBF SFTBY chief Masayoshi Son prepares to reach a deal with Nasdaq to list chip designer Arm Ltd by this week.
• Softbank and the New York Exchange reached a tentative agreement over Arm's proposed listing on Monday.
• The move represents the first formal step in the IPO process likely to end speculation over Son's plans for the Cambridge-based company after a deal to sell it to rival Nvidia Corp NVDA collapsed in early 2022.

Bloomberg

Tencent Shares Suffer Maximum Decline Over Reports Of Stake Sale By Largest Shareholder

• Tencent Holdings Ltd TCEHY shares saw the most significant declines over two months amid speculation that its largest shareholder Prosus NV PROSY PROSF speeding up the selling of the Chinese gaming company's stock.
• Tencent's shares lost 5.2% to HK$357.2 in Hong Kong, the most since late January, after reports of Prosus' plans to deposit an additional 96 million shares into the city's stock clearing system.
• Prosus' move, typically a precursor to selling stock, raised concerns among traders about the company's outlook and ability to extend recent gains.

UBS Mulls Keeping Credit Suisse Private Wealth Unit Targeting India's Wealthy Diaspora

• UBS Group AG UBS is reportedly looking to retain Credit Suisse Group AG's CS private banking unit in India, making way for a potential return to the market.
• In recent weeks, Iqbal Khan, global head of wealth management at UBS, met with counterparts at Credit Suisse, including the lender's local wealth head Puneet Matta in Singapore.
• The move would give the Swiss lender a stronger foothold among the growing ranks of Indian billionaires while underscoring a return for Khan, who steered the private wealth business during his time at Credit Suisse before joining UBS in 2019. 

Alibaba's Restructuring Pays Off: Cloud And Cainiao Divisions Attract Investor Attention With High Post-Restructuring Valuations

• Investors said the Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA division's shares waiting for public listing would likely be in high demand as the breakup unlocks value in the wake of regulatory crackdown.
• Interest in the units will likely draw high demand despite the slump in shares of Chinese tech firms like DiDi Global Inc DIDIY and Kuaishou Technology KSHTY KUASF, given the timing and the difference in their assets.

Wall Street Journal

Carrier Global Eyes Separation Of Fire Unit On Demand Issues

• Carrier Global Corp CARR reportedly plans to sell or spin off its Fire & Security business segment, which accounts for about 17% of its sales.
• The process is in an early stage with no guarantee that the company will follow through.
• The Fire & Security business accounted for $3.57 billion (previous year: $5.51 billion) of Carrier Global's total sales of $20.4 billion in 2022.

CNBC

New York and California Prepare For Potential Mifepristone Ban In Texas With Stockpiling Of Alternative Abortion Medications

• New York and California are stockpiling an alternative abortion medication in case a Texas judge's order suspending the FDA approval of the primary drug, mifepristone, goes into effect later this week.
• The alternative option, misoprostol, is FDA-approved to treat gastric ulcers. But the use of misoprostol alone to induce abortions is endorsed by the World Health Organization and is used in countries where mifepristone is unavailable.
• More than half of abortions in the U.S. use a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol.

New York Times

Meta's Restructuring Efforts Spark Job Stability Concerns Among Employees Amid Layoffs and Absence of Leaders at Headquarters

• Meta Platforms Inc META job cuts and the viability of its metaverse focus have fueled employee concerns regarding job stability.
• Some of Meta's top executives have migrated. They are operating from their new homes in places like London and Tel Aviv despite CEO Mark Zuckerberg's repeated requests to resume regular office at its headquarters.
• He has conducted two cuts over the past six months, eliminating more than 26,000 people, or nearly 30% of his company's workforce.
• The layoffs, absentee leadership, and concerns that Zuckerberg is making a bad bet on the future have devastated employee morale at Meta.

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