Elon Musk’s X ‘declined to send an appropriate witness’ to Senate hearing on election threats
As the riots raged in the U.K., Elon Musk began making incendiary comments about the situation, including the statement: “Civil war is inevitable.” Musk is the owner of X, the social media platform formerly known as X.
Aytug Can Sencar | Anadolu | Getty Images
While top executives from Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft are headed to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a hearing on election threats, Elon Musk’s X won’t be participating.
A representative for Sen. Mark R. Warner, the Democratic chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in an emailed statement that X “declined to send an appropriate witness.” No further details were provided.
A spokesperson for X told CNBC that the company’s invited witness was Nick Pickles, who had been the head of global affairs but “resigned on September 6.” Warner’s office said X declined to send a replacement after Pickles’ departure.
The hearing is titled “Foreign Threats to Elections in 2024 — Roles and Responsibilities of U.S. Tech Providers.” Alphabet will be represented by Kent Walker, the president and chief legal officer, while Meta’s head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, will represent the social networking company. Microsoft President Brad Smith will represent the software giant.
The hearing, which is being led Warner (D-Va.) and committee Vice Chairman Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), is centered around lawmakers’ concerns over foreign entities that are attempting to influence the outcome of the presidential elections in November using the biggest tech platforms.
Alphabet and Microsoft recently published research into the efforts by Iranian and Russian hacking groups to influence or attack officials linked to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. The hackers have utilized various tactics including spear phishing.
Earlier this month, the Biden administration said it’s targeting Russian government-sponsored attempts to affect U.S. public opinion.
“We will be relentlessly aggressive in countering and disrupting attempts by Russia, Iran, as well as China or any other foreign malign actor” attempting to “interfere in elections and undermine our members,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement at the time.
X’s absence from the Wednesday hearing follows a streak of divisive posts by Musk, the world’s richest person, on the app, formerly known as Twitter, which he acquired in 2022. Musk has close to 200 million listed followers.
After a second apparent assassination attempt against Republican former President Donald Trump over the weekend, Musk shared then deleted a post questioning why there weren’t more assassination threats made against President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee. Biden and Harris have both received assassination threats while in office.
European news agencies also reported this week that Musk has previously shared content on X that had been created by the Social Design Agency, which led a propaganda campaign at the Kremlin’s direction, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
On Wednesday, Musk shared a false story on X that claimed explosives were found in a car near Trump’s planned rally in Long Island, New York. According to a statement from Nassau County police, a civilian near the site of the rally had falsely reported explosives being found.
In the early stages of the meeting Wednesday afternoon, Warner said “it’s a shame” that no one from X appeared. He said that, prior to Musk’s takeover, the company was a “collaborator.”
“Under X, they are absent and some of the most egregious activity has taken place” on the platform, Warner said.
WATCH: SpaceX will be filing suit against the FAA for regulatory overreach.
Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi speaks at the opening night of the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on Aug. 15, 2024.
Rodin Eckenroth | Filmmagic | Getty Images
Intuit shares fell 6% in extended trading Thursday after the finance software maker issued a revenue forecast for the current quarter that trailed analysts’ estimates due to some sales being delayed.
Here’s how the company performed in comparison with LSEG consensus:
- Earnings per share: $2.50 adjusted vs. $2.35 expected
- Revenue: $3.28 billion vs. $3.14 billion
Revenue increased 10% year over year in the quarter, which ended Oct. 31, according to a statement. Net income fell to $197 million, or 70 cents per share, from $241 million, or 85 cents per share, a year ago.
While results for the fiscal first quarter topped estimates, second-quarter guidance was light. Intuit said it anticipates a single-digit decline in revenue from the consumer segment because of promotional changes for the TurboTax desktop software in retail environments. While that will affect revenue timing, it won’t have any impact on the full 2025 fiscal year.
Intuit called for second-quarter earnings of $2.55 to $2.61 per share, with $3.81 billion to $3.85 billion in revenue. The consensus from LSEG was $3.20 per share and $3.87 billion in revenue.
For the full year, Intuit expects $19.16 to $19.36 in adjusted earnings per share on $18.16 billion to $18.35 billion in revenue. That implies revenue growth of between 12% and 13%. Analysts polled by LSEG were looking for $19.33 in adjusted earnings per share and $18.26 billion in revenue.
Revenue from Intuit’s global business solutions group came in at $2.5 billion in the first quarter. The figure was up 9% and in line with estimates, according to StreetAccount. Formerly known as the small business and self-employed segment, the group includes Mailchimp, QuickBooks, small business financing and merchant payment processing.
“We are seeing good progress serving mid-market customers in MailChimp, but are seeing higher churn from smaller customers,” Sandeep Aujla, Intuit’s finance chief, said on a conference call with analysts. “We are addressing this by making product enhancements and driving feature discoverability and adoption to improve first-time use and customer retention.”
Better outcomes are a few quarters away, Aujla said.
CreditKarma revenue came in at $524 million, above StreetAccount’s $430 million consensus.
At Thursday’s close, Intuit shares were up about 9% so far in 2024, while the S&P 500 has gained almost 25% in the same period.
On Tuesday Intuit shares slipped 5% after The Washington Post said President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed “Department of Government Efficiency” had discussed developing a mobile app for federal income tax filing. But a mobile app for submitting returns from Intuit is “already available to all Americans,” CEO Sasan Goodarzi told CNBC’s Jon Fortt.
Goodarzi said on CNBC that he’s personally communicating with leaders of the incoming presidential administration.
On the earnings call, Goodarzi sounded optimistic about the economy.
“Our belief, which is not baked into our guidance, is that we will see an improved environment as we look ahead in 2025, particularly just with some of the things that I mentioned earlier around just interest rates, jobs, the regulatory environment,” he said. “These things have a real burden on businesses. And we believe that a better future is to come.”
WATCH: H&R Block, Intuit shares fall after report Trump administration is considering a free tax-filing app
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