Tech and Business World Grapples with Layoffs, Mergers, Safety Concerns, and Closures
The technology and business sectors faced a week of significant developments, ranging from job cuts and corporate mergers to safety regulations and sudden closures.
Pinterest recently fired two engineers for creating a tool to track which employees were affected by recent layoffs, according to the BBC Technology. The company, which had announced job cuts impacting roughly 700 roles (about 15% of its workforce), saw the engineers create "custom scripts improperly accessing confidential company information to identify the locations and names of all dismissed employees." The layoffs came as Chief Executive Officer Bill Ready stated in an email that the company was "doubling down on an AI-forward approach," according to an employee who posted part of the memo on LinkedIn.
In other tech news, Elon Musk's SpaceX is acquiring his artificial intelligence start-up, xAI, in a merger that would create the world's most valuable private company, according to BBC Technology. SpaceX confirmed the deal, posting a memo from Musk about the merger on its website. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed, a source familiar with the matter said it valued xAI at $125 billion and SpaceX at $1 trillion. Musk stated in his memo that the combination would form an "innovation engine" putting AI, rockets, space-based internet, and media under one roof. xAI is known for its Grok chatbot.
China has banned hidden door handles on electric vehicles (EVs) over safety concerns, making it the first country to stop the use of the controversial designs, BBC Technology reported. The new regulations come after a number of deadly incidents involving EVs, including two fatal crashes in China involving Xiaomi EVs in which power failures were suspected to have prevented doors from being opened. Under the new rules, cars will only be allowed to be sold if they have a mechanical release both on the inside and outside of their doors, according to state media. The new rules are due to take effect on January 1, 2027.
Meanwhile, in the pharmaceutical industry, Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, warned that price cuts would be "painful" for the firm, causing its shares to plunge 18%, according to BBC Business. Chief Executive Officer Maziar Mike Doustdar called pricing pressures "unprecedented" and "painful" after the company reported it expected profits and sales to fall by as much as 13%. Novo Nordisk said the situation had been "amplified" by a deal the firm and its rival Eli Lilly made with former US President Donald Trump to lower the cost of weight-loss drugs for Americans. The company has faced turmoil in recent months, announcing thousands of job cuts amid warnings of increasing competition.
In the legal sector, Sheffield-based PM Law, which runs firms across Yorkshire, Cumbria, Berkshire, Derbyshire and Kent specializing in personal injury, wills and conveyancing, shut on Monday without warning, leaving hundreds of staff and clients in limbo, according to BBC Business. One customer said they had been about to complete on a flat sale when they found they could no longer contact the company, while an employee said she had been left "devastated" by the closure. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) said PM Law had "not closed in the manner we would have expected."
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