Microblogging site Twitter is no longer an independent company as its new owner Elon Musk has merged it with his firm X Corp.
Though Twitter is still functional as a social media platform, this could be Mr Musk’s first step towards transforming the company into an “everything app” like China’s WeChat.
In the past, Mr Musk has indicated that acquiring Twitter would be an “accelerant” for creating X that he called an “everything app”. He said he intended to make X similar to WeChat.
First released in 2011, WeChat is a super-app owned by Shenzhen-headquartered technology company Tencent Holdings. It is an instant messaging and payments app that is used by more than 1 billion people.
Mr Musk, the billionaire founder of the world’s biggest electric vehicle company Tesla, tweeted about the move on Tuesday with the single character “X”. His one-letter tweet had attracted more than 22.5 million views within hours.
“Twitter … has been merged into X Corp and no longer exists ... X Corp is a privately held corporation … its parent corporation is X Holdings Corp. No publicly traded corporation owns 10 per cent or more of the stock of X Corp or X Holdings Corp,” said a document submitted on April 4 last year to a US court in a lawsuit filed against the company and its former chief executive, Jack Dorsey, by activist Laura Loomer.
Ms Loomer is suing Twitter for flouting laws after her account was banned in 2019.
Mr Musk, who has more than 134.4 million followers on Twitter, was the original owner of the X.com domain. It was the name of the online payments company that he started and ultimately merged with PayPal. However, he repurchased the domain in 2017 for an undisclosed sum.
Mr Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion in October, was also accused of manipulating Twitter's algorithm to boost the reach of his own tweets in February.
He instructed a team of his engineers to tweak the algorithm so his tweets would gain traction, resulting in a flood of his messages appearing on users' feeds, Platformer.news reported.
Mr Musk's time at the helm of Twitter has been tumultuous.
He has fired more than half of the company's employees and shut down units and offices around the world, raising concerns that there may not be enough people to carry out oversight roles in vital areas of its operations.
Twitter's revenue and adjusted earnings plunged by 40 per cent on an annual basis in December, as several advertisers withdrew after Mr Musk took charge of the company, The Wall Street Journal reported last month.
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – FINAL RECKONING
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
The biogs
Name: Zinah Madi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and links
Nationality: Syrian
Family: Married, Mother of Tala, 18, Sharif, 14, Kareem, 2
Favourite Quote: “There is only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything.”
Name: Razan Nabulsi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and Links
Nationality: Jordanian
Family: Married, Mother of Yahya, 3.5
Favourite Quote: A Chinese proverb that says: “Be not afraid of moving slowly, be afraid only of standing still.”
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
Stormy seas
Weather warnings show that Storm Eunice is soon to make landfall. The videographer and I are scrambling to return to the other side of the Channel before it does. As we race to the port of Calais, I see miles of wire fencing topped with barbed wire all around it, a silent ‘Keep Out’ sign for those who, unlike us, aren’t lucky enough to have the right to move freely and safely across borders.
We set sail on a giant ferry whose length dwarfs the dinghies migrants use by nearly a 100 times. Despite the windy rain lashing at the portholes, we arrive safely in Dover; grateful but acutely aware of the miserable conditions the people we’ve left behind are in and of the privilege of choice.
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
More from UAE Human Development Report:
If you go
Flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh with a stop in Yangon from Dh3,075, and Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Phnom Penh with its partner Bangkok Airlines from Dh2,763. These trips take about nine hours each and both include taxes. From there, a road transfer takes at least four hours; airlines including KC Airlines (www.kcairlines.com) offer quick connecting flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville from about $100 (Dh367) return including taxes. Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysian Airlines fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Sihanoukville from $54 each way. Next year, direct flights are due to launch between Bangkok and Sihanoukville, which will cut the journey time by a third.
The stay
Rooms at Alila Villas Koh Russey (www.alilahotels.com/ kohrussey) cost from $385 per night including taxes.
TEACHERS' PAY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
Avengers: Endgame
Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Josh Brolin
4/5 stars
