Business

Bloomberg News reports: Barack and Michelle Obama’s time with Spotify Technology SA is coming to an end. The former first family’s production company, Higher Ground, won’t be signing a new deal with the audio platform, according to people familiar with the negotiations. The company is instead talking to other distributors about a deal worth tens of millions of dollars, among …

The Daily Beast reports: Elon Musk has secured commitments totaling about $46.5 billion for a possible takeover of Twitter, according to a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There is still no assurance the deal will go through, though the filing firms up Musk’s earlier $43 billion proposal and the possibility that he could pursue a hostile takeover …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: The Republican-controlled Florida Senate quickly voted Wednesday to dissolve Disney World’s Reedy Creek Improvement District. The Senate voted 23-16 to dissolve Reedy Creek, with Sen. Jeff Brandes the only Republican to vote against Sen. Jennifer Bradley’s bill. The Senate voted along party lines to approve Bradley’s bill retracting the Disney carveout. Democrats assailed their Republican colleagues …

The New York Times reports: Elon Musk is racing to secure funding for his $43 billion bid to buy Twitter. Morgan Stanley, the investment bank working with Mr. Musk on the potential deal, has been calling banks and other potential investors to shore up financing for the offer, four people with knowledge of the situation said. Mr. Musk is first …

NPR reports: Delta Airlines has updated its announcement about the end of the federal mask mandate after igniting a firestorm of criticism from public health experts who said it used inaccurate and misleading language to describe COVID-19. “We are relieved to see the U.S. mask mandate lift to facilitate global travel as COVID-19 has transitioned to an ordinary seasonal virus,” …

Reuters reports: A federal judge has ruled that Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s 2018 tweets about having secured financing to take the company private were false, according to court filings by Tesla investors suing the billionaire over the tweets. The filing said that the court ruled April 1 that Musk’s 2018 tweets were “false and misleading.” The court “held that he …

CNBC reports: Twitter adopted a limited duration shareholder rights plan, often called a “poison pill,” a day after billionaire Elon Musk offered to buy the company for $43 billion, the company announced Friday. The board voted unanimously to adopt the plan. Under the new structure, if any person or group acquires beneficial ownership of at least 15% of Twitter’s outstanding …

Mediaite reports: Mark Cuban said Tesla CEO Elon Musk offering to buy Twitter is a way of “fucking with” the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cuban tweeted on Thursday he thinks that Musk is messing with the SEC by purchasing a huge stake in Twitter and hyping a faux takeover in an effort to goose the stock price before selling. Cuban …

Deadline reports: Twitter is said to be weighing a poison pill to prevent Elon Musk from increasing his stake in the company significantly, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the situation. The defensive strategy, also called a shareholders rights plan, make hostile takeovers more expensive and complicated for a buyer. They allow existing shareholders the right …

The Associated Press reports: Elon Musk is offering to buy Twitter, just days after the Tesla CEO said he would no longer be joining the social media company’s board of directors. Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that Musk provided a letter to the company on Wednesday that contained a proposal to buy the remaining shares of …

CNBC reports: A group of Twitter shareholders are suing Elon Musk for allegedly failing to disclose he had bought a significant stake in the social media company in the right timeframe. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO revealed on April 4 that he had amassed a 9.2% stake in Twitter, leading shares to soar as investors viewed the move as a …

USA Today reports: Soon there will be only three open Kmart stores in the U.S. The Kmart store in Avenel, New Jersey, 15 miles south of New York City, is the latest store scheduled to permanently close on April 16. Once it shutters, the number of Kmarts in the U.S. – once well over 2,000 – will be down to …

Reuters reports: Orlando cracked a list of the world’s top 10 busiest airports by passengers for the first time last year, as the home of the Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Florida theme parks joined mostly American hubs as soaring leisure travel underpins a recovery in traffic. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport topped the rankings by passenger traffic published Monday …

CNBC reports: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has abandoned his plans to join the board of Twitter, his social network of choice. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced publicly on Sunday that Musk remains the largest shareholder of Twitter, and the company will remain open to his input. Musk informed Twitter on Saturday morning that he would not, in fact, …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Amazon.com Inc. plans to appeal its loss last week against union organizers in New York, where workers voted to establish the company’s first U.S. union. The company’s intention was made in a legal filing made public Thursday. Roughly 55% of the workers from a Staten Island facility named JFK8 voted to side with Amazon Labor …

The Washington Post reports: Twitter plans to host Elon Musk for a question-and-answer session with employees after a week of internal outcries over his appointment to the social network’s board of directors, according to company messages obtained by The Washington Post. The announcement from Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal of the highly unusual internal AMA — which stands for “ask …

CNBC reports: JetBlue Airways made a $3.6 billion all-cash offer for Spirit Airlines, raising questions about Spirit’s deal to combine with rival discount carrier Frontier Airlines. Spirit said its board was evaluating JetBlue’s proposal and will “pursue the course of action it determines to be in the best interests of Spirit and its stockholders.” JetBlue’s bid comes less than two …

Yahoo Finance reports: On Tuesday, PepsiCo’s (PEP) Frito-Lay announced Cracker Jills will be a permanent member of its snack roster as a way to celebrate women who break down barriers in sports. The snack will be available in pro ballparks and via a $5+ donation to the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF). In addition, PepsiCo will donate $200,000 to the foundation. …

CNBC reports: Elon Musk will join Twitter’s board of directors after taking a 9.2% stake in the social media company, according to a release filed with the SEC. “Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board,” CEO Parag Agrawal said in a tweet. Musk’s purchase comes after …

CNBC reports: Outspoken Tesla CEO Elon Musk purchased a giant stake in Twitter that makes him the largest outside shareholder in the social media stock, not long after criticizing the company for failing to uphold the tenets of free speech. Musk owns 73,486,938 shares of Twitter, which represents a 9.2% passive stake in the company, according to the Securities and …