Unconventional Measures Taken By Musk In Managing Twitter
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Elon Musk surprises once again with his actions against Twitter management. Investors are looking a little more positively at Europe, spurring a revival in the region's downward equities.
Sharing internal messages
Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion more than six weeks ago. Since then, there has been a lot of talk about his actions towards this social networking site. Employees faced weeks of unrest, including the firing of half of Twitter's staff and sudden decisions on product plans.
Musk said he thinks of Twitter as a digital urban market. Since taking over the platform, he has pulled a few levers to ensure that the Twitter conversation is also about Twitter.
One of Twitter Inc.'s top lawyers "was exited," part of the fallout from the billionaire's unusual efforts to release internal communications to criticize prior practices.
On Tuesday, Musk's tweets linked the departure to a project he dubbed "Twitter Files" - a disclosure of internal communications he characterized as showing partisan decisions by the previous leadership to the benefit of Democrats, for example. The documents are being published as evidence of claims that major social media platforms are biased against the political right. Twitter's own researchers said in a report last year that the platform's algorithms boosted the voices of the political right in several countries, including the US.
Musk said he gave journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss access to company documents in order to rebuild public trust in Twitter.
Sharing internal messages with outside control is another example of unconventional measures taken by Musk in managing Twitter.
Prior to Elon Musk's share of Twitter, the stock fell, but has been on the rise since then. Currently, the TWTR share price is 53.35.
Positive sentiment
The benchmark Euro Stoxx 50 index gained nearly 19% this quarter, putting it on track to achieve its best quarterly results.
Sentiment has improved after a period of extreme pessimism towards Europe sparked by the invasion of Ukraine, the subsequent spike in energy prices and the highest inflation in decades. Investors and analysts say market sentiment is improving thanks to early signs of easing inflation in the eurozone and hopes that the fight for alternatives for Russian natural gas reduced the risk of an energy crisis this winter.
Russia was the European Union's largest energy supplier, exposing the region to the upheavals caused by Western sanctions. Some of Europe's best-performing companies this quarter are in the industrials sector. These companies were among the hardest hit by gas supply disruptions and energy price spikes, with many companies temporarily closing factories or reducing production.
France's Alstom SA shares rose 43% this quarter, while Siemens Energy AG shares in Germany rose 42%.
Chart: Alstom SA
Chart: Siemens Energy AG
Source: wsj.com, finance.yahoo.com
