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Elon Musk is bringing in new faces for Twitter 2.0 — including his cousins and Bari Weiss

Happy Friday Eve, readers. The makeup of Elon Musk's Twitter is changing, and not just because the offices are now bedrooms.

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With the majority of the company's former staff having been laid off — or fired, or resigned — Musk has brought in some of his own picks to work at Twitter 2.0. The new guard includes some of his family members, a conservative commentator, and enthusiastic "interns."

I'm your host, Jordan Parker Erb. There's more on the new faces at Musk's social media company below, so let's get to it. 


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Illustration of Elon Musk and the Twitter logo
Jonathan Raa/Getty Images

1. Elon Musk is bringing in new faces for Twitter 2.0. As Musk moves towards a new, "hardcore" version of the social media company, he's begun bringing in new people — even as about 70% of its staff have been laid off or fired or have resigned since his takeover.

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  • Among Musk's latest hires are two of his cousins, according to people familiar with the matter. One of the cousins works on software-engineering projects, while the other is seen more as "a fixer type," helping Musk out with various needs.
  • Dozens of Tesla engineers also remain at Twitter, along with staffers from The Boring Company, including its operations chief, Jehn Balajadia.
  • Bari Weiss, a conservative newsletter writer, also has been given access to Twitter's systems, with Musk saying she would take part in releasing what he's dubbed "the Twitter files."
  • There are so many such Musk hires and access requests at Twitter that Ross Nordeen, a technical program manager from Tesla, has now been brought into Twitter to manage them.
  • And these aren't the only new faces at Twitter — hundreds of people have applied for a chance to work at Musk's new company. 

Who's new at Twitter 2.0


In other news:

comic book industry disrupted 4x3
Marianne Ayala/Insider

2. Meet 27 women in venture capital who made partner or higher at top firms this year. While the industry is still overwhelmingly male, firms like Andreesssen Horowitz and Lightspeed made moves to close the gender gap in 2022, hiring and promoting female partners and general partners. See our full list here.

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3. Triller plans to go public in a few weeks. The move comes not long after it removed from its video app the song catalogs of major music labels Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group. What we know so far. 

4. How one freelancer makes up to $13,000 a month on Fiverr. Alexa Nizam started freelance copywriting on the site in 2020, and has since quit her job to turn her side hustle into a full-time gig. She said she struggled to get customers for a year — but that these tips helped jumpstart her success.

5. Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, Elizabeth Holmes' right-hand man at Theranos, has been sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison. Balwani was convicted in July on 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy related to his role at the infamous blood-testing startup. He will now likely serve more time than Holmes, his ex-lover. Read the full story.

6. Salesforce has a succession crisis. Last week, the company revealed heir apparent Bret Taylor's plans to leave the company. Since then, five top executives from Salesforce and its subsidiaries, most notably Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield and Tableau CEO Mark Nelson, announced their departure — and Insiders say it's created a crisis in leadership at the company

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7. Apple is ready to leave China — but the move could take years. Apple plans to expand production into India and Vietnam and eventually use a factory in Arizona. But relocating an entire supply chain could cost billions and take a decade to accomplish. We explain why.

8. These 20 companies are hiring a ton of tech workers. With recently laid-off people trying to figure out their next steps, Indeed put together a list of firms that are seeing growth in tech jobs. From Deloitte to VMware, see which companies are hiring.


Odds and ends:

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Lisa Eadicicco/Insider; Amazon

9. These are the coolest tech gifts you can buy for less than $50. We rounded up the best presents to give — that won't break the bank. From gaming accessories to quirky gadgets, here are 30 inexpensive gift ideas.

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10. Can you guess the most-searched word on Google this year? Hint: The word is the name of an online game that took the internet by storm earlier this year. See if you guessed correctly.


What we're watching today:

Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@businessinsider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.

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