Business

The Associated Press reports: The city of San Francisco has opened a complaint and launched an investigation into a giant “X” sign that was installed Friday on top of the downtown building formerly known as Twitter headquarters. City officials say replacing letters or symbols on buildings, or erecting a sign on top of one, requires a permit for design and …

Reuters reports: Meta Platforms executives are heavily focused on boosting retention on their new Twitter rival Threads, after the app lost more than half of its users in the weeks following its buzzy launch, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees on Thursday. Retention of users on the text-based app was better than executives had expected, though it was “not perfect,” said …

Bloomberg News reports: The car carrier on fire near the Netherlands coast has almost 500 electric cars on board, according to its operator, more than was previously reported. The cause of the blaze on the Fremantle Highway is still unknown, according to the Dutch coast guard, which previously said the initial cargo list they received suggested just 25 EVs were …

USA Today reports: A United Airlines pilot had his license suspended after turning up drunk to work a flight from Paris to Dallas on Sunday. French media reports that the pilot, identified as Henry W., received a six month suspended prison sentence and was fined 4,500 euros in addition to having his license suspended for a year. According to local …

Reuters reports: Tesla employees had been instructed to thwart any customers complaining about poor driving range from bringing their vehicles in for service. Last summer, the company quietly created a “Diversion Team” in Las Vegas to cancel as many range-related appointments as possible. The Austin, Texas-based electric carmaker deployed the team because its service centers were inundated with appointments from …

The Daily Beast reports: Elon Musk’s radical rebranding of Twitter as “X” led to the site being blocked in Indonesia on Tuesday under the country’s strict laws restricting pornography and gambling. The Southeast Asian country’s Ministry of Communication and Informatics said the block had to do with the domain “X.com,” which had previously been used to host content that violated …

CNBC reports: UPS and the union representing more than 300,000 workers at the package carrier reached a preliminary labor deal, narrowly avoiding a strike that was set to start in the coming days if the two sides failed to strike a deal. “Together we reached a win-win-win agreement on the issues that are important to Teamsters leadership, our employees and …

Reuters reports: Elon Musk plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider whether the Securities and Exchange Commission overstepped its authority in enforcing a consent decree that he has called a “muzzle” on his free speech. Musk would be appealing a decision by the 2nd U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Manhattan to uphold the decree, which arose from his …

Bloomberg News reports: It’s rare for corporate brands to become so intertwined with everyday conversation that they become verbs. It’s rarer still for the owner of such a brand to announce plans to intentionally destroy it. On Sunday, in the middle of a quiet summer weekend, Elon Musk decreed that Twitter’s product name would be changed to “X,” and that …

The Messenger reports: Elon Musk’s sudden move to rebrand Twitter as X may run into the unyielding wall of trademark law — but not because its logo looks suspiciously familiar to a variety of typeface fonts. Instead, the problem may be in the X brand itself, legal experts told The Messenger. Microsoft’s trademark application on the brand mark ‘X’ was …

The Guardian reports: Elon Musk has revealed a new logo for Twitter, choosing a “minimalist art deco” X as part of a rebrand of the platform. The Twitter owner indicated the design would be altered, tweeting that it “probably changes later, certainly will be refined.” Twitter’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, confirmed the choice on Monday by tweeting the design and writing: …

Bloomberg News reports: Twitter Inc. owner Elon Musk said the social media company will change its logo soon, getting rid of the blue bird that’s long been its signature. “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make go live worldwide tomorrow,” Musk tweeted late Saturday. Roughly six months after he acquired Twitter for $44 billion, he merged …

CNN Business reports: In a sea of canned cocktails, Gay Water wants to stand out. Launching Thursday is a brightly colored canned vodka and soda beverage that proudly displays who it’s for, instead of backing off from support for the LGBTQ+ community as other companies have done in recent months. In other words, where Bud Light has buckled under pressure …

ABC News reports: Amazon is bringing its pay-by-palm technology to Whole Foods stores. The company announced Thursday that its Amazon One palm recognition system will soon be in more than 500 Whole Foods stores by the end of the year. Amazon rolled out the technology in 2020, and it is currently available in more than 200 Whole Foods stores nationwide. …

Reuters reports: Twitter, which has asked a court to terminate a consent order struck last year with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) related to data breaches, said in a court filing on Thursday that it planned to subpoena Senator Elizabeth Warren in connection with the fight. Twitter asked last week for the consent order to be scrapped, accusing the FTC …

Ars Technica reports: Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, and other current and former Tesla board members agreed to return over $735 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit that alleged Tesla directors “grossly” overpaid themselves. The Tesla directors, who also include Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk, further agreed to forego stock options and other compensation for board service in 2021, 2022, and 2023. …

Reuters reports: Yum Brands’ Taco Bell prevailed on Tuesday in its self-described bid to “liberate” the phrase “Taco Tuesday,” as competing fast-food chain Taco John’s told the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) it would abandon its federal “Taco Tuesday” trademark. Taco Bell had asked the USPTO in May to cancel the trademark, calling it a common phrase that Taco …

TechCrunch reports: Tesla over the weekend said its first much anticipated Cybertruck came off the electric vehicle maker’s production line in Texas. The debut of the long-delayed, futuristic-looking pickup truck comes in the lead up to Tesla’s second-quarter 2023 earnings call. Tesla CEO Elon Musk first introduced the Cybertruck in 2019, but vehicle production has repeatedly been delayed. The truck …

The Associated Press reports: The head of the Teamsters said Sunday that he has asked the White House not to intervene if unionized UPS workers end up going on strike. Negotiations between the delivery company and the union representing 340,000 of its workers have been at a standstill for more than a week with a July 31 deadline for a …

Bloomberg News reports: Twitter owner Elon Musk said the company still has a negative cash flow because of its heavy debt load and a roughly 50% drop in advertising revenue. The social media site will “need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” Musk said in a tweet. Advertiser spending dropped 89% to $7.6 …