The billionaire has begun swinging the ax as he plans to lay off 3,7000 workers – or about half the workforce. But the workers have filed a class-action lawsuit, saying the lack of notice of the layoffs violates federal and state law. Twitter’s offices are temporarily closed, and some employees have reported that their access to company email and Slack has already been cut.
5 things to start your day
- Britain faces deepest recession on record – Bank of England warns economy already in decline as it announces eighth straight rate rise
- Saudi Arabia launches electric car company to challenge Tesla – Oil-rich kingdom announces joint venture with Taiwan’s Foxconn
- BMW boosted by demand from Chinese drivers – Carmaker results come ahead of German leader Olaf Scholz’s visit to Beijing
- World ‘plunging towards social collapse’ as era of cheap money ends – Hedge fund Elliott slams central banks as rates rise
- Deloitte replaces half UK executive team in liquidation of older partners – Unexpected reshuffle makes way for six newcomers
What happened in the night
Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Friday, leading Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index to a 5.8 percent gain as Chinese markets rallied on speculation that Beijing may begin to ease pandemic restrictions . Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 16,221.86 points, while the Shanghai Composite rose 2.1 percent to 3,060.39. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 edged lower, closing the gap after Japanese markets closed Thursday for a holiday, falling nearly 2 percent to 27,120.61 Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% to 6,878.20 and South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.3% to 2,335.72.