Happy Friday, readers! The air is getting cooler and Spirit Halloween stores have overtaken defunct big-box retailers, so you know what that means: It's nearly October.
Today, we're looking back to a simpler time — earlier this year. It was before Elon Musk had announced his decision to buy Twitter (and even longer before he announced his decision not to buy Twitter).
In those days, Musk was messaging industry heavyweights from Jack Dorsey to Sam Bankman-Fried's advisor. And now, as his legal battle with Twitter continues, some of those texts have been released — and there were some juicy revelations.
Let's take a look at the messages, shall we?
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1. A trove of Elon Musk's texts have been released. As part of Twitter's lawsuit against Musk, texts between the Tesla billionaire and other powerful figures, including Twitter cofounder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner, and Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, have been disclosed.
- In a series of texts between Dorsey and Musk, Dorsey said he'd pushed Musk's addition to Twitter's board a year earlier, but Twitter's board "said no." Dorsey continued: "I trust you."
- Meanwhile, a text exchange showed Döpfner encouraged Musk to buy Twitter in March. He added that the move would be "a real contribution to democracy."
- In the crypto space, Sam Bankman-Fried's advisor told Musk the FTX founder was also possibly interested in buying Twitter. See more from their conversations.
- But, despite support from many of Musk's billionaire buddies, conversations between Musk and the Twitter CEO himself show just how quickly the pair's relationship imploded.
As you can see, Musk's phone has been bombarded by texts from executives, bankers, and other notable figures from tech, finance, and media. We sifted through text logs from the likes of Reid Hoffman and Joe Rogan to find the juiciest private texts released.
Here's what we found.
In other news:
2. A musician who raised an AI "baby" has another experiment that could usher in a new world of art. Holly Herndon, an experimental musician and artist, created a digital twin of herself (named Holly+) to harmonize with. Her project highlights the advantages of AI, while proving it isn't merely a substitute for human creativity. Take an inside look at the future of art.
3. Google is shutting down its game-streaming service Stadia. After two years, Google announced it'd be shutting down the cloud-gaming service, saying it "hasn't gained the traction with users that we expected." Users will have access to their games through January 18 — here's what else users should know.
4. How much do Apple employees get paid? By combing through data, Insider was able to determine how much engineers, data scientists, and thousands of other employees at the tech giant make, and many salaries start in the six-figure range. See how much you could make at Apple.
5. Meta just announced a hiring freeze. According to Bloomberg, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the freeze, saying most team budgets would be reduced and warning employees of a potential restructuring. Get the full rundown here.
6. TripActions has filed confidentially for an IPO. A person familiar with the matter said the startup, which aims to modernize business travel, has filed to go public next year. TripActions is targeting a $12 billion valuation — a rare exception in the frozen IPO market. Read our exclusive report.
7. Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has filed for divorce. Scott, who was previously married to Jeff Bezos, is divorcing her second husband, Dan Jewett, after nearly two years together. Here's what to know about Scott, an award-winning novelist and Princeton grad.
8. Leaked screenshots reveal new pay scales that Amazon is using to increase compensation for warehouse workers. Amazon is raising starting pay for its 750,000 US warehouse workers to an average $19 an hour, but the amount of individual workers' pay bumps varies by location and their tenure — and some workers aren't thrilled. Here's how the raises will be allocated, and what workers told us.
Odds and ends:
9. Elon Musk says Tesla's Cybertruck will be able to "serve briefly as a boat." In a tweet, the Tesla CEO said the electric trucks will be waterproof and able to "cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren't too choppy." What to know about the Tesla Cyber… boat.
10. Amazon just announced several new smart home products. The lineup includes a new Ring camera with radar sensors, and Echo devices that can turn into Eero mesh Wi-Fi satellites. Take a look at all of Amazon's new gadgets and features.
The latest people moves in tech:
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Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.
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