The market seeks profits, not promises, as a hope-fueled bull market sputters. — The following is a selection from Big Technology, a weekly newsletter on Big Tech and society. To get it in your inbox for free, sign up here. The market is absolutely murdering tech stocks this year. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft are down 19%, 31%, 13%, 38%, and 17%…

Alex Roetter, who once ran Twitter engineering, evaluates the feasibility of Musk’s proposals. — Barring a messy, last-minute divorce, Elon Musk is on track to own Twitter (and yes, mea culpa). The mercurial, brilliant entrepreneur offloaded around $8.5 billion of Tesla stock this week as he prepared to pay for his $44 billion side project. …

The company withstood Facebook’s best swing, now it’s growing fast again. Here’s why. — In August 2016, Snapchat seemed destined for decline. Facebook that month cloned Stories — Snapchat’s most beloved feature — and rolled it out on Instagram, en route to placing it on Messenger, Whatsapp, and Facebook itself. At the time, Snapchat was a plucky upstart, gathering steam ahead of an IPO…

Catching a falling knife can hurt like hell — Elon Musk’s attempt to buy Twitter will likely fail. He doesn’t have the money lined up. The company’s board is wary of selling. Its stock hasn’t budged despite his premium offer. And he’s already discussing Plan B. Anything can happen with Musk involved, but a failed deal’s aftermath could be…

Reading between the headlines to get the real story on Elon’s Twitter bid — On Thursday, Elon Musk announced an offer to buy Twitter. He proposed buying the company’s shares at $54.20 each, a $9 per-share premium, presenting its board with a tough decision. Musk is a brilliant businessman. He founded one company that sends rockets to space and another that popularized electric vehicles…

As Twitter’s revenue explodes due to its brand safety push, Musk wants to return it to the freewheeling times of old — Twitter’s toughest business challenge has long been convincing advertisers that it’s a safe place to spend money. The service is fast-moving, emotional, and wildly unpredictable. So your ad — depending on the moment — could appear next to a funny meme or a neo-Nazi flame war. For many marketers, that’s…

In one week, Google opened direct payments to Android developers and Europe passed the Digital Markets Act. It’s not the return of the free market, but it’s something. — For years, a chorus of critics has argued Big Tech is too powerful, unaccountable, and anti-competitive. And for years, it’s seemed like they were shouting into a pillow. Antitrust legislation meandered in Congress, the tech giants continued to squeeze their competitors, and they added trillions in market cap in the…

“When Elon Musk gets federal subsidies to grow Tesla, does that make him an oligarch?” When I got Teddy Schleifer on the line for this week’s Big Technology Podcast, I wanted to hear his perspective on the oligarchs. Schleifer covers billionaires for Puck, a unique beat he’s carved out —…

With Facebook beset by Apple’s tracking crackdown, TikTok can capitalize. But will it? — Marshall Maher just wants TikTok to take his money. The chief marketing officer at ServiceUp, a car repair startup, spends $40,000 to $80,000 on ads each month, and he’s tired of giving it to Facebook. Maher doesn’t trust the social network after years of its error-filled reporting, especially now that…