By Ross Kerber, US Sustainable Business Correspondent
For all the big-name investors in Elon Musk's social media platform X, few have responded to concerns that the service formerly known as Twitter has become an echo chamber for disinformation and conspiracy theories, as a Spanish newspaper said last week as it stopped posting.
An exception is the California-based investor Ross Gerber, who recently spoke to me for an interview you can read below.
Meanwhile Trump's ongoing appointments to his administration have big business implications, as you will find below in the "company news" section. Plus I linked to a story about the tough stage that U.N.-backed climate talks have reached and to the announcement of new investments by California's top pension fund.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump walks with Elon Musk before viewing the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., November 19, 2024 . Brandon Bell/Pool via REUTERS
Musk investor Gerber 'kind of done with X'
Donald Trump's U.S. presidential election victory seems set to have a wide impact on the businesses of Elon Musk, including his social media platform X.
Some Wall Street banks hope the billionaire's close ties with the president-elect will boost X's prospects and help them offload $13 billion of debt that backed Musk's 2022 purchase of what was then Twitter.
Other investors sound disillusioned, including Ross Gerber of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management of Santa Monica, California, a backer of Musk's ventures who told me "I'm kind of done with X".
You can read my column on the topic this week by clicking the button below -
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed to purge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shortly before President-elect Donald Trump nominated him for health secretary. Kennedy's views on vaccines and other topics will most likely draw opposition from many public health advocates and a pharmaceutical industry that pays much of the regulator's bills.
Trump also has picked Brendan Carr as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Carr is currently the top Republican on the FCC, the agency that regulates telecommunications. He has called for it to loosen rules that limit the number of radio and TV stations a company can own in a single market, and has advocated for the FCC's hard line on Chinese telecom companies.
And, on Tuesday Trump said he will nominate Wall Street CEO Howard Lutnick to lead his trade and tariff strategy as head of the Commerce Department. Lutnick, whose domain stretches from brokerages to real estate, has become one of Donald Trump's biggest promoters from the business world.
On my radar
Vanguard will give clients a say on the proxy votes of some $250 billion of its assets next year, doubling the scale of its effort to bring corporate democracy to the masses. Other fund firms have similar efforts to pass along their voting, which could diminish the political heat they face.
The chief negotiator at the U.N-backed climate summit in Baku warned colleagues that the "hardest part" was about to start in talks over how much money should be provided to developing countries to help them adapt to weather disasters and transition to cleaner energy.
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