After X (formerly Twitter) announced it would be killing its "Support" account, disgruntled users quickly roasted the social media platform for providing "essentially non-existent" support.
"We'll soon be closing this account to streamline how users can contact us for help," X's Support account posted, explaining that now, paid "subscribers can get support via @Premium, and everyone can get help through our Help Center."
On X, the Support account was one of the few paths that users had to publicly seek support for help requests the platform seemed to be ignoring. For suspended users, it was viewed as a lifeline. Replies to the account were commonly flooded with users trying to get X to fix reported issues, and several seemingly paying users cracked jokes in response to the news that the account would soon be removed.
Morgan Stanley posted strong 1Q earnings on Friday, boosted by its equities trading business.
Earnings also reflected the sale of loans tied to Elon Musk's purchase of X.
The loans were on the company's books until recently, as Musk's star rose in relation to Trump.
Morgan Stanley's long-time relationship with Tesla CEO Elon Musk is paying off.
The investment bank on Friday posted net income of $4.3 billion in the first quarter, up 26% over last year, surpassing analysts' forecasts. The bank's $17.7 billion in quarterly revenue was boosted by a 45% increase in its equity trading business, whose revenue soared to a record $4.1 billion amid heightened market volatility.
The bank also saw a jump in "other" revenue in its institutional securities group. That line includes the bank's corporate loan book, which benefited from the sale of loans the bank raised in 2022 to help Musk buy the social media platform now called X, according to a person with knowledge of the company's finances.
Morgan Stanley led a group of seven banks in raising $13 billion in debt for the 2022 buyout.
Bloomberg first reported that the boost in the "other" category was tied to the sale of the X loans.
Morgan Stanley's 1Q earnings
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Morgan Stanley has long been a banker to Musk. The firm's star tech banker, Michael Grimes, recently left Morgan Stanley after 30 years for a role with the Commerce Department, which is headed by Howard Lutnick, who also hails from Wall Street.
Grimes played an important role in helping the Tesla CEO buy X, then called Twitter, in 2022. The deal ended up costing Morgan Stanley and the other lending banks billions in so-called hung loans, or debt that banks are having trouble offloading to investors.
Morgan Stanley and other banks began selling the debt this year amid a brightened financial picture for X, according to a person with knowledge of the sales.
On Friday, Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick said he is "cautiously optimistic" about the state of the economy, a stark contrast to comments made earlier on Friday by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.
"We have not seen a slowdown," Pick said, referring to market activity since the start of April. "Is it bumpier for some clients? Of course, it is," he said, adding, "But we are still, we'll call it, cautiously optimistic that we won't go into recession, and we will just keep going."
In a court filing Monday, X lawyers provided no details on the deal but explained that "X and Twitch have entered into a memorandum of understanding resolving the action as to Twitch," so long as "certain conditions" are met by December 31.
Musk has called for "criminal prosecution" of anyone involved in the ad boycott. But while Twitch was one of about a dozen companies that X directly accused of conspiring to withhold billions in ad revenue from then-Twitter, it was not part of X's initial complaint. The livestreaming service was only added to the lawsuit after X amended its complaint in November to pull in more advertisers, and since then, Twitch has never responded to any of X's accusations. Instead, in its filing, X speaks for Twitch.
X’s plan to boost revenue by selling off dormant usernames on its service is starting to shape up. According to recent changes found in X’s web application, the company is setting up a “handle inquiry” process that will allow Verified Organizations — companies and other organizations that already have a $1,000 per month X subscription […]
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