Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your afternoon TNB Tech Minute for Thursday, March 26. I'm Julie Chang for The Wall Street Journal. We exclusively report that Elon Musk's social media company X has let go of its chief marketing officer and laid off some non-technical staff over the last several weeks.
People familiar with the matter say the company is looking to right-size as its parent company, SpaceX, seeks a potential IPO valued at at least $1 trillion. The moves at X echo what's happening elsewhere inside the company since the XAI and SpaceX merger. X merged with XAI last year, and XAI and SpaceX combined in early February.
Several co-founders at XAI have since announced they were leaving the company, and several teams were restructured. The mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae will soon accept so-called crypto-backed mortgages.
Chapter 2: What recent changes has Elon Musk's company X undergone?
A new mortgage product unveiled today from Better Home & Finance and crypto exchange Coinbase Global allows homebuyers to pledge their crypto holdings when getting a Fannie-backed mortgage instead of selling the crypto to make a cash-down payment. This isn't the first crypto mortgage offering, but Fannie's involvement could make these products more mainstream.
According to Gallup, about 14% of American adults owned cryptocurrencies last year. And the Federal Communications Commission advanced a plan to bring outsourced call center jobs back to the U.S.
The new rules would require phone, internet, and cable companies to disclose a customer service agent's location, cap the share of calls handled by overseas agents, hold agents to English language proficiency requirements, and give consumers the option to be served by a U.S.-based agent.
Industry analysts warn the rules may motivate companies to lean more aggressively into AI and automation. The proposal has been opened for public comments. For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Friday's Tech News Briefing podcast.