During a video conference at the World Government Summit in Dubai, Elon Musk said that he's looking to "find someone else" to lead Twitter by the end of 2023. Between now and then, he said his goal is to "stabilize the organization" and make sure "it's financially in a healthy place."
Musk hinted in December that he would step down eventually but didn't provide specifics.
EU GAS-POWERED CAR BAN
The European Union has approved a law that will ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles from the trading bloc by 2035. In addition, the EU will require cars sold by 2030 to cut emissions by 55 percent from 2021 levels. While some automakers are resisting the rule, others are being proactive. Volkswagen said it will only produce EVs in Europe by 2033.
SUBWAY EXPLORES SALE
After weeks of speculation, Subway has confirmed that it is considering a sale. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that it had hired advisors to look into a deal that could value the company at more than $10 billion. However, "there is no indication of timing or assurance that a sale will occur," the company said in a press release. "J.P. Morgan is advising the company and will conduct the sale exploration process." Subway has more than 37,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. Same-store sales in North America were up 7.8 percent in 2022.
Daniel Folkman, senior vice president of business at Gopuff, joined Cheddar to talk about the company's year of hypergrowth in 2021, particularly amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and what consumers can expect from the quick delivery market in 2022. He noted that the company's delivery sector performed at a high level this year but its e-commerce business is still in its infancy, with less than 10 percent of customers purchasing items sold by Gopuff. Folkman also talked about production expansion, including freshly-made pizza and milkshakes that people can order along with their cleaning supplies.
Venture capitalists and CEOs are clashing over the future of the internet. Web3 is the tech world's name for a decentralized, blockchain-based internet that runs on cryptocurrency. It was recently the topic of a tweet from Block CEO and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey who wrote that Web3 will not actually be owned by users, and instead be controlled by rich venture capitalists. Dorsey later shared that he was blocked on Twitter by Marc Andreesen, co-founder of VC firm Andreesen Horowitz, which has invested billions of dollars into Web3 and crypto projects. Correspondent for DealBook from the New York Times, Ephrat Livni, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what this could mean for the future of Web3.
