Telecom
Elon Musk, Finally Acquires Twitter @$44bn
The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has finally take over the ownership of social media service, Twitter, by closing a $44 billion (£38.1bn) deal.
Mr Musk had tweeted: “The bird is freed”, an apparent reference to the deal.
Also, the U.S. media and an investor in the firm confirmed the development on Friday.
A number of top executives, including the boss, Parag Agrawal, have reportedly been fired.
Mr Agrawal and two other executives were escorted out of Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters on Thursday evening
The completion of the deal brings to an end months of legal wrangling, but the deal has prompted questions over the platform’s future direction.
Chief financial officer Ned Segal, and the firm’s top legal and policy executive, Vijaya Gadde, are leaving alongside Mr Agrawal, according to US media reports.
Mr Musk, a self-styled “free speech absolutist”, has been critical of Twitter’s management and its moderation policies.
They clashed over the terms of the takeover, with Mr Musk accusing Twitter of providing misleading information about the firm’s user numbers.
He has also said he would reverse bans on suspended users, which could include former US President Donald Trump, who was excluded following the Capitol riot in January 2021.
Twitter said there was a risk Mr Trump would incite further violence. But Mr Musk has described the ban as “foolish”.
It is not clear yet whether the clear out of senior management is the forerunner to company-wide job cuts.
Earlier reports suggested 75% of staff at the social media company were set to lose their jobs, but those reports were “inaccurate”, Ross Gerber, president and chief executive of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, and a shareholder in both Twitter and Mr Musk’s other company Tesla, told the BBC.
Hotspot
“There are a lot of talented people at Twitter, especially on the engineering side and they want to retain as much of that talent as possible,” Mr Gerber said.
“Really what they’re looking at from the trimming side is management [and] they’ve already started with upper management,” said Mr Gerber. He said cuts are then likely to extend to product managers “and products they’ve been working on that aren’t going anywhere”.
The social media platform’s shares will be suspended from trading on Friday, according to the New York Stock Exchange’s website.
Mr Musk said he bought the social media platform to help humanity and he wanted “civilisation to have a common digital town square”.
Earlier this week, Mr Musk tweeted a video of himself walking into Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco carrying a kitchen sink with the caption: “let that sink in!”
He also changed his Twitter profile to read “Chief Twit”.
On a recent earnings call, the Tesla owner said Twitter was “an asset that has just sort of languished for a long time, but has incredible potential, although obviously myself and the other investors are overpaying for Twitter right now”
Mr Musk’s early investments in Twitter initially escaped public attention. In January, he began making regular purchases of shares, so that by the middle of March he had accumulated a 5% stake in the firm.
In April, he was revealed as Twitter’s largest shareholder, and by the end of the month, a deal was finally reached to buy the company for $44bn.
He said he planned to clean up spam accounts and preserve the platform as a venue for free speech.
But by mid-May Mr Musk, a prolific Twitter user, had begun to change his mind about the purchase, citing concerns that the number of fake accounts on the platform was higher than Twitter claimed.
In July, he said he no longer wished to acquire the company. Twitter, however, argued the billionaire was legally committed to the acquisition and eventually filed a lawsuit to hold him to the deal.
In early October, Mr Musk revived his takeover plans for the company on condition that legal proceedings were paused.
Dimension Data has said that the proceeds from its Series 1 corporate bond, will support the expansion of the company’s fibre infrastructure to meet Nigeria’s growing demand for digital connectivity.
This followed the successful subscription of the corporate bond.
Recall that Dimension Data Limited said that it has completed the signing ceremony for the issuance of N4.05 billion (approximately US$2.9 million).
This sum marks the first tranche of a N20 billion (US$14.7 million) bond programme announced earlier this year.
The bond programme was raised under Dimension Data SPV Funding Plc, following approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria.
The company says the proceeds will support the expansion of the company’s fibre infrastructure to meet Nigeria’s growing demand for digital connectivity.
Speaking at the ceremony, Olugbenga Olabiyi, managing director of Dimension Data Limited, said the investment reflects the company’s long-term commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s digital economy.
The planned investments will fund the continued expansion of Dimension Data’s fibre network, supporting increasing demand from financial institutions, fintechs, enterprise customers and other technology-driven sectors.
Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Johannesburg, the company has grown its footprint across the Middle East and Africa.
Today Dimension Data is a member of the NTT Ltd Group, one of the world’s leading technology companies.
As cloud adoption, digital financial services and data-intensive applications continue to grow, the company believes resilient fibre infrastructure will remain a critical enabler of Nigeria’s digital economy.
The Federal Government has announced that work will commence within weeks on a 90,000-kilometre fibre optic network expected to connect every state, local government area and ward in Nigeria, marking what officials describe as one of the country’s most ambitious digital infrastructure projects.
Dr Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, disclosed this on Tuesday after briefing President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, on the progress of three flagship digital transformation initiatives being implemented by his ministry.
According to the minister, all resource mobilisation and contractual processes for the nationwide fibre project have been completed, paving the way for physical deployment.
“We’re now at the point where, in a few weeks’ time, we should start to lay those fibre, so people will start seeing us around the country deploying the fibre. This is going to transform Nigeria for good,” Tijani said.
He explained that the project would deliver fibre optic infrastructure to every geopolitical zone, state, local government area and ward, significantly expanding broadband access and improving the quality of internet connectivity across the country.
“This is a project where every state, every geopolitical zone, every local government and every ward in this country will be covered with fibre optic cables, which will transform the quality of connectivity,” he added.
Bosun Tijani attributed the progress in the digital economy to a series of reforms approved by President Tinubu, including the designation of digital infrastructure as Critical National Infrastructure, tariff adjustments and tax harmonisation measures sought by industry operators.
“I think our sector has been extremely fortunate. Mr. President has given us quite a number of things that the sector has been demanding for a long time. Whether it’s the Critical National Infrastructure designation for all digital infrastructure, the slight adjustment in tariff, or the tax harmonisation, these are reforms the industry has long requested.
“I think it’s probably the sector that is most appreciative of this government because when we came in, the sector was contributing between 16 and 18 per cent to our GDP, but today it is tracking close to 21 per cent. That represents significant growth,” he said.
The minister noted that the reforms had also improved the financial performance of major operators in the telecommunications sector.
On efforts to bridge the digital divide, Tijani disclosed that the government would begin deploying about 3,700 telecommunications towers from October to provide network coverage for more than 20 million Nigerians currently living in underserved communities without access to telecom services.
He said the President had approved the project after months of capital mobilisation and planning.
“Today we’re at a point where, before the end of the year, we’ll also start to deploy close to 3,700 towers. It’s taken a lot to put this project together and raise the required capital, but we are now ready to begin deployment around October,” he said.
The minister also announced that Nigeria would officially launch an alphanumeric postcode system on October 1, a move he said would place the country among a select group of nations operating an advanced digital addressing system.
“Nigeria will be amongst maybe 10 or 15 countries in the world with an alphanumeric postcode. It’s the latest design in postcode systems, where we can identify every property in this country. We’re hoping to launch that on the 1st of October,” he said.
Tijani explained that the new system would assign a unique address to every property nationwide, enhancing logistics, accelerating e-commerce, improving emergency response and strengthening public service delivery.
“Inability to locate places comes at a cost. You can imagine what this will do for e-commerce. It means goods can now be delivered in record time,” he said.
He added that integrating the postcode system with existing government identity databases would improve security and make public services more efficient.
“Our alphanumeric postcode is unique because it allows us to assign a unique address to every property. In many countries, such as the UK, postcodes cover clusters of buildings. What we are introducing will uniquely identify every building, and that will be a game changer for Nigeria in terms of security, commerce and public service delivery,” the minister stated.
Telecom
CMS T&M Launches TMO Rides to Enable a Faster & Cashless Transport Experience for CMS – Ajah Passengers
CMS Transport Management (CMS T&M), one of Lagos’ longest-standing and most trusted transport operators, officially launches a new service known as TMO Rides.
This new initiative is designed to simplify the daily commute by introducing seamless cashless payments for passengers across its bus network.
For over 58 years, CMS T&M has played a significant role in moving millions of passengers daily along the CMS – Ajah routes through its fleet of high-capacity buses popularly.
The launch of TMO Rides marks another milestone in the company’s journey toward building a smarter, more efficient transport experience.
Through the initiative, passengers will have access to TMO Cards for a seamless transport. This is more exciting because TMO launches with 2 consecutive apps.
These apps help to eliminate the need for cash transactions while reducing boarding delays and create a more convenient experience for passengers.
Beyond introducing digital fare payments, the initiative reflects CMS T&M’s broader commitment to modernize public transportation through innovation, operational efficiency and improved customer experience.
CMS T&M operates within Nigeria’s regulated transport ecosystem as a registered member of the BRT Association of Nigeria (BRTAN), where it is also an equity stakeholder, reinforcing its commitment to a cooperative-driven transport system.
The company is equally registered with the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), the agency responsible for planning, regulating and franchising public transportation in Lagos State, and is also a member of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) that promotes safe and organized road transport operations.
Speaking on the launch, Andy, Managing Director of CMS T&M, said: “For nearly six decades, our focus has remained the same, which is moving people safely and efficiently.
“As the transportation needs of Lagos continue to evolve, we must evolve with them. TMOx Rider is about making everyday commuting easier by giving our passengers a faster, more convenient way to pay while improving the overall travel experience.
“This launch represents another important step in our commitment to building a smarter, more accessible transport system for everyone.”
The launch of TMO Rides forms part of CMS T&M’s long-term vision of embracing technology to improve public transportation without compromising the trust and consistency the passengers have relied on for generations.
The cashless payment infrastructure empowering TMO Rides is enabled by Treepz, whose mobility technology supports digital fare collection and operational efficiency.
By providing the technology behind the initiative, Treepz is helping CMS T&M expand access to modern, seamless transportation while advancing a shared vision of making everyday mobility more connected, convenient and accessible across Lagos.
Visit our website: https://www.cmstaxiandmotor.com/
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