Meta lays off thousands, FTX collapses, and Twitter has a very weird week

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It was so strange that it could make up this entire newsletter.

• Last week Elon laid off a huge chunk of the company. This week, some of those who were let go were reportedly asked to come back.
• Twitter started giving blue verified checkmarks to anyone who’d pay $8. Things got chaotic fast.
• Twitter rolled out a new, second checkmark for “Official” accounts. And then got rid of them. And then…brought them back?
• By Friday morning, after fake “verified” accounts popped up for everything from companies to athletes to politicians, Twitter paused the $8 verification badge program.
• A number of execs quit — to the point where the exits perked the ears of the FTC.
• Elon reportedly told Twitter employees that “bankruptcy isn’t out of the question” for the company.

FTX was once one of the biggest exchanges in the world. It looked like a competitor would step in to acquire FTX, but then they took a look at FTX's books and decided to back out. FTX, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, has filed for Chapter 11.

Meta laid off 13% of its workforce this week Around 87,000 employees equates to over 11 thousand roles being cut.

If you don't like the new look of Gmail, you won't be able to go back to old Gmail. The news is bad. The new design will be the standard experience for all within weeks according to the team.

There are three zero-day security vulnerabilities in newer Samsung phones, according to a report. The vulnerabilities allow an attacker to gain read and write privileges on a device.

audio roundup

Are you looking for a new show to listen to? Here's what's happening in the show lately.

• The Chain Reaction crew broke down the absurd collapse of FTX as it was happening.
• Equity (with a guest appearance from TC’s Becca Szkutak) covered the seemingly endless layoffs we’re seeing from tech companies big and small, and what FTX’s meltdown means for it and companies like it.
• Darrell was joined on The TechCrunch Podcast by TC senior reporter Dom-Madori Davis to talk about “the coalition of VCs that are standing for reproductive rights” and to recap the biggest tech stories of the week.

TechCrunch+

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How did ButcherBox get to $600 million in revenue in a few years? The company's path has been outlined.

Alex is wondering if everyone has been valuing software companies the wrong way.