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Elon Musk — the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X, formerly Twitter —speaks during the New York Times annual DealBook summit in New York City, Nov. 29, 2023.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against SpaceX, alleging that Elon Musk’s defense contractor illegally fired eight employees after they wrote an open letter critical of Musk — and accused the workplace of being selectively permissive of sexual harassment.

CNBC obtained a copy of the NLRB complaint via a Freedom of Information Act request. The complaint says the eight employees of SpaceX “engaged in concerted activities with other employees for the purposes of mutual aid or protection by drafting and distributing an open letter” detailing their workplace concerns.

In their open letter, the SpaceX employees at that time wrote that Musk’s “behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us.” They wrote that his divisive posts on social media, as well as alleged sexual misconduct on his part, went against SpaceX’s own “no assholes” and “zero tolerance” policies.

The employees’ open letter was posted internally at SpaceX, after Business Insider reported that Musk had propositioned and exposed himself to a flight attendant on one of the company’s private jets in 2016, leading to a sexual harassment claim against the CEO, which SpaceX reportedly settled for $250,000 in 2018.

Musk has denied the sexual misconduct allegations, calling them “wild accusations.” After the report by Business Insider, SpaceX COO and President Gwynne Shotwell also defended Musk against allegations of sexual harassment.

After the then-SpaceX employees penned the open letter, the NLRB found that company management engaged in “interrogation” of the authors and “made coercive statements” to them, including “inviting” the employees to “quit if they disagreed with the behavior of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk.” Eventually, the NLRB complaint says, SpaceX illegally fired those employees over the protected speech.

Musk bills himself as a free speech advocate or absolutist. However, as CNBC has previously reported, his companies have repeatedly sought to stifle others’ speech when it has been critical of Musk or his businesses. For example, under Musk’s ownership, the social network formerly known as Twitter (now X) has suspended accounts of users sharing records or remarks critical of Musk or his companies, including software developer Travis Brown, and Aaron Greenspan, founder of PlainSite, an online database of legal and public records.

Laurie Burgess, an attorney representing the SpaceX employees who were fired after publishing their open letter, told CNBC her clients have also filed a formal complaint with the California Civil Rights Department alleging “failure to correct sexual harassment at SpaceX.”

SpaceX has significant operations and headquarters in Hawthorne, California. SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment, and the CRD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for the NLRB told CNBC via email on Wednesday that the labor agency’s Los Angeles regional director issued the consolidated complaint against SpaceX on Wednesday, after investigating ex-employees’ allegations.

That NLRB regional office will now seek a settlement between SpaceX and the ex-employees who were dismissed after speaking out. If they don’t settle, they will proceed to a hearing before an NLRB Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) starting on March 5, 2024 in Los Angeles. Such a judge’s decision is not necessarily final and could be appealed to the board of the NLRB and federal appeals court.

Read the full complaint from the federal agency here:

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Trump advisor Navarro rips Apple’s Tim Cook for not moving production out of China fast enough

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Trump advisor Navarro rips Apple's Tim Cook for not moving production out of China fast enough

Peter Navarro: 'Inconceivable' that Apple could not produce iPhones outside China

White House trade advisor Peter Navarro chastised Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday over the company’s response to pressure from the Trump administration to make more of its products outside of China.

“Going back to the first Trump term, Tim Cook has continually asked for more time in order to move his factories out of China,” Navarro said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “I mean it’s the longest-running soap opera in Silicon Valley.”

CNBC has reached out to Apple for comment on Navarro’s criticism.

President Donald Trump has in recent months ramped up demands for Apple to move production of its iconic iPhone to the U.S. from overseas. Apple’s flagship phone is produced primarily in China, but the company has increasingly boosted production in India, partly to avoid the higher cost of Trump’s tariffs.

Trump in May warned Apple would have to pay a tariff of 25% or more for iPhones made outside the U.S. In separate remarks, Trump said he told Cook, “I don’t want you building in India.”

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Analysts and supply chain experts have argued it would be impossible for Apple to completely move iPhone production to the U.S. By some estimates, a U.S.-made iPhone could cost as much as $3,500.

Navarro said Cook isn’t shifting production out of China quickly enough.

“With all these new advanced manufacturing techniques and the way things are moving with AI and things like that, it’s inconceivable to me that Tim Cook could not produce his iPhones elsewhere around the world and in this country,” Navarro said.

Apple currently makes very few products in the U.S. During Trump’s first term, Apple extended its commitment to assemble the $3,000 Mac Pro in Texas.

In February, Apple said it would spend $500 billion within the U.S., including on assembling some AI servers.

WATCH: Apple’s $500 billion investment: For AI servers not manufacturing iPhones

Apple's $500 billion U.S. investment: For AI servers not manufacturing iPhones

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CoreWeave to acquire Core Scientific in $9 billion all-stock deal

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CoreWeave to acquire Core Scientific in  billion all-stock deal

CoreWeave founders Brian Venturo, at left in sweatshirt, and Mike Intrator slap five after ringing the opening bell at Nasdaq headquarters in New York on March 28, 2025.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Artificial intelligence hyperscaler CoreWeave said Monday it will acquire Core Scientific, a leading data center infrastructure provider, in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $9 billion.

Coreweave stock fell about 4% on Monday while Core Scientific stock plummeted about 20%. Shares of both companies rallied at the end of June after the Wall Street Journal reported that talks were underway for an acquisition.

The deal strengthens CoreWeave’s position in the AI arms race by bringing critical infrastructure in-house.

CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator said the move will eliminate $10 billion in future lease obligations and significantly enhance operating efficiency.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, pending regulatory and shareholder approval.

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The deal expands CoreWeave’s access to power and real estate, giving it ownership of 1.3 gigawatts of gross capacity across Core Scientific’s U.S. data center footprint, with another gigawatt available for future growth.

Core Scientific has increasingly focused on high-performance compute workloads since emerging from bankruptcy and relisting on the Nasdaq in 2024.

Core Scientific shareholders will receive 0.1235 CoreWeave shares for each share they hold — implying a $20.40 per-share valuation and a 66% premium to Core Scientific’s closing stock price before deal talks were reported.

After closing, Core Scientific shareholders will own less than 10% of the combined company.

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Apple appeals 500 million euro EU fine over App Store policies

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Apple appeals 500 million euro EU fine over App Store policies

Two young men stand inside a shopping mall in front of a large illuminated Apple logo seen through a window in Chongqing, China, on June 4, 2025.

Cheng Xin | Getty Images

Apple on Monday appealed what it called an “unprecedented” 500 million euro ($586 million) fine issued by the European Union for violating the bloc’s Digital Markets Act.

“As our appeal will show, the EC [European Commission] is mandating how we run our store and forcing business terms which are confusing for developers and bad for users,” the company said in a statement. “We implemented this to avoid punitive daily fines and will share the facts with the Court.”

Apple recently made changes to its App Store‘s European policies that the company said would be in compliance with the DMA and would avoid the fines.

The Commission, which is the executive body of the EU, announced its fine in April, saying that Apple “breached its anti-steering obligation” under the DMA with restrictions on the App Store.

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“Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers cannot fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside the App Store,” the commission wrote. “Similarly, consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers.”

Under the DMA, tech giants like Apple and Google are required to allow businesses to inform end-users of offers outside their platform — including those at different prices or with different conditions.

Companies like Epic Games and Spotify have complained about restrictions within the App Store that make it harder for them to communicate alternative payment methods to iOS users.

Apple typically takes a 15%-30% cut on in-app purchases.

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