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Extraordinary story in the Wall Street Journal.
X is threatening advertisers that if they don’t spend more, Elon Musk will use his influence in government to block company mergers.
That’s extortion.
A lawyer at advertising conglomerate Interpublic Group fielded a phone call in December from a lawyer at X. The message was clear, according to several people with knowledge of the conversation: Get your clients to spend more on Elon Musk's social-media platform, or else.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino has made comments that seemed like similar warnings in conversations with Interpublic executives, according to people with knowledge of those talks.
Interpublic leaders interpreted the communications from X as reminders that the recently announced $13 billion deal to merge Interpublic with rival Omnicom Group OMC -0.53%Y could be torpedoed, or at least slowed down, by the Trump administration, given Musk's powerful role in the federal government, some of the people said. They also had a front-row seat to Musk's continued criticism of advertisers that ditched X since he bought it in 2022, when it was known as Twitter.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device
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