Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Tesla and Twitter on Musk’s agenda at Qatar Economic Forum

Tesla and Twitter on Musk’s agenda at Qatar Economic Forum

Delegates at the economic forum discussed diversifying economies, while Musk gave updates on Twitter acquisition.

The Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and businessman Elon Musk were among the speakers on the second day of the Qatar Economic Forum, as a global economic recovery after the 1COVID1-19 pandemic and rising challenges such as food insecurity and the need for energy diversification were high on the agenda.

“Supporting the economy and investments and innovation while keeping shared values and maintaining peace is the way to build capabilities to overcome the challenges that the whole of humanity faces,” Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said in his opening remarks on Tuesday.

“Qatar is responsible as a partner in the global community to face the global change and its effect on humans,” he added.

The forum, which is hosted by Bloomberg, will focus on the need to diversify the world’s economy and develop the renewable energy sector, according to Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from the event.

“But the forum is not just looking at things from a financial perspective, there is also discussion of adjacent topics such as the environment or the role of politics and human rights in developing economies,” Elshayyal said.


 

From Twitter to Tesla


Appearing virtually at the event, Musk, the world’s richest person according to Forbes magazine, spoke about his recent offer to acquire Twitter and the issues surrounding the social media platform, including the number of spam users on the system and the coming together of the debt portion of the deal.

“We’re still awaiting resolution on that matter, and that is a very significant matter,” he said, reiterating doubts over Twitter’s claims that false or spam accounts represented fewer than five percent of its monetisable daily active users. “And then of course, there’s the question of, will the debt portion of the round come together? And then will the shareholders vote in favour?”

Talking about Tesla, the electric carmaker company he is chief executive of, Musk said that there will be a reduction of its salaried workforce by roughly 10 percent over the next three months. The cuts would amount to about a 3.5 percent reduction in total headcount at the company, Musk said.

His comment comes as two former Tesla employees have filed a lawsuit against the company alleging its decision to carry out a “mass layoff” violated federal law as the company did not provide advance notice of the job cuts.

The lawsuit was filed late on Sunday in Texas by two workers who said they were terminated from Tesla’s gigafactory plant in Sparks, Nevada, in June. According to the suit, more than 500 employees were terminated at the Nevada factory.

Musk played down the lawsuit as “trivial”. “Let’s not read too much into a pre-emptive lawsuit that has no standing,” he said.

“It seems like anything related to Tesla gets a lot of clicks, whether it is trivial or significant. I would put that lawsuit you’re referring to in the trivial category.”


Market volatility


At a different panel of the Forum, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods said it would take time for energy market volatility to end and expected three to five years of fairly tight oil markets. Woods added that the company had asked the United States government for a more efficient investment process and efforts to centralise carbon reduction.

The QatarEnergy CEO Saad al-Kaabi also announced that ExxonMobil is going to be the latest international company to join Qatar in the North Field Expansion project.

Qatar is partnering with international companies in the first and largest phase of the nearly $30bn expansion that will boost Qatar’s position as the world’s top LNG exporter.

The two companies are expected to sign a deal later on Tuesday.

The move comes after TotalEnergies, Italy’s Eni and ConocoPhillips also joined QatarEnergy on the project.

Touching on global finance, Kuwait Investment Authority’s (KIA) Managing Director Ghanem al-Ghenaiman is waiting for a further expected decline in global markets before deploying investments and believes that will happen before the end of the year.

Ghenaiman said he believes markets will “go down further from here”.

The KIA sovereign wealth fund has more than $700bn in assets, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. It manages two funds – one is a nest egg for when oil prices run out, the other is used to cover Kuwait’s budget deficit.

On the sidelines of the event in Doha, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation chief said the Gulf producer had the capacity to reach its OPEC quota and was moving to its first offshore production as it invests to meet future oil demand.

“We are making the investments necessary to ensure that we can meet any new increases in terms of allocations and also in terms of demand,” Sheikh Nawaf Saud al-Sabah said. “We always like to maintain spare capacity about 10 percent to 15 percent above where we need to be just in case of supply disruptions around the world.”

Kuwait received its first offshore rig a week ago and it will be ready to begin drilling soon, he said without giving a precise timescale.

“We’ve been producing onshore for almost 90 years now and now we’re moving on to the offshore for the first time,” he said. “We should have good news on that sometime soon.”

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Trump Says Ukraine Can Fully Restore Borders with NATO Backing
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Germany Weighs Excluding France from Key European Fighter Jet Programme
Cyberattack Disrupts Check-in and Boarding Systems at Major European Airports
Björn Borg Breaks Silence: Memoir Reveals Addiction, Shame and Cancer Battle
When Extremism Hijacks Idealism: How the Baader-Meinhof Gang Emerged and Fell
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
Trump Orders $100,000 Fee on H-1B Visas and Launches ‘Gold Card’ Immigration Pathway
France’s Looming Budget Crisis and Political Fracture Raise Fears of Becoming Europe’s “Sick Man”
Three Russian MiG-31 Jets Breach Estonian Airspace in ‘Unprecedentedly Brazen’ NATO Incident
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
The New Life of Novak Djokovic
German police raid AfD lawmaker’s offices in inquiry over Chinese payments
Volkswagen launches aggressive strategy to fend off Chinese challenge in Europe’s EV market
France Erupts in Mass ‘Block Everything’ Protests on New PM’s First Day
Poland Shoots Down Russian Drones in Airspace Violation During Ukraine Attack
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Macron Appoints Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister Amid Budget Crisis and Political Turmoil
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
×