Taking Twitter private, day 2 of NFL Draft: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Taking Twitter private

What does Elon Musk's plan to make Twitter private mean? Reporter Celina Tebor breaks it down. Plus, Russia attacks Kyiv during a U.N. visit, supply chain issues could creep back up this fall, the NFL Draft rolls on and the New Orleans Jazz Fest returns.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Friday, the 29th of April 2022. Today, what does it mean for Twitter to go private? Plus, Biden wants more aid to Ukraine and more.

Here are some of the top headlines:

1. Inflation has hit a new record high for the 19 countries that use the euro. Annual inflation hit 7.5% for April in the Eurozone, the highest since stats started in 1997 and the sixth record in a row.
   A Colorado prison inmate is the first person in the US to test positive with the current strain of avian flu. The man had direct exposure to infected poultry.
   And James Corden is leaving The Late Late Show. He's hosted the CBS talk show since 2015 and will leave next year.

♦

Elon Musk plans to make Twitter a private company after his $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform. But what exactly does that mean? Reporter Celina Tebor has more.

Celina Tebor:

Basically, Elon Musk has plans to make Twitter a private company after his $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform. It's hard to say if anything or a lot of things will change for the average user. But, if he takes the company private, that basically means that he will have a lot more flexibility to be able to make changes in the company. When a company is public, you're kind of beholden to your shareholders and to the public in general. So if you make a change to your company that is unpopular or people don't like what you're doing, then your stock might go down and that can be really volatile and be very distracting. It forces a company to make decisions that are focused more on the short term to try to get their stock up rather than maybe a decision that wouldn't be popular in a moment but could be better in the long term and make the company more valuable.

That might be one of the main reasons why Musk is trying to take this company private. He has hinted at making some big changes to Twitter. He said that he wanted to add an edit button to tweets, ending Twitter's dependence on ads, and also expanding freedom of speech. He still might be able to do those things if the company were public, but if it's private, those changes and those decisions would be easier for him to make.

Another big reason why Musk might want to take the company private is because then he doesn't have to deal with the SEC, which is the Securities and Exchange Commission. When you're a public company, you have to report its financial documents. That can include risk to the company, any plans that could impact its financial performance, and those are public, so anyone can look at these financial reports. Musk himself has had some issues with the SEC in the past. He said in 2018 that he had funding secured to take Tesla private, but that wasn't true. The SEC accused him of securities fraud in a civil lawsuit because of those tweets. So that really impacted Tesla negatively. Their shares dropped a lot after the SEC's claim. Musk eventually had to pay a big fine, and he actually had to step down as chairman of Tesla. It sounds like he's not a big fan of the SEC in general. He's had legal issues with them in the past. So if he took Twitter private, he just wouldn't have to deal with them as much.

Taylor Wilson:

For Celina's full story, check out today's episode description.

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Russia continued attacking Ukraine across the country yesterday that included an attack on the capital of Kyiv, hitting a residential high-rise and another building, injuring at least 10 people. The attack came just an hour after President Volodymyr Zelensky held a news conference alongside UN Secretary General António Guterres. Zelensky said the move shows Russia's disrespect for global institutions.

Taylor Wilson translating for Volodymyr Zelensky:

"Today, right after our talks in Kyiv, Russian missiles flew to the city, five missiles. This says a lot about Russia's true attitude toward global institutions, about attempts of Russian authorities to humiliate the UN and everything that the organization represents. Therefore, it requires corresponding powerful reactions."

Taylor Wilson:

Explosions were also reported in Chernihiv near the border with Belarus and Fastiv, a railroad hub southwest of the capital. The move seemed to point to Russia not only focusing on the Eastern Donbas region, though fighting was intense there yesterday. Ukraine is urging its allies to send more military equipment, and President Joe Biden yesterday urged Congress for an additional $33 billion in Ukraine aid.

Joe Biden:

The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen. We either back the Ukrainian people as they defend their country, or we stand by as the Russians continue their atrocities and aggression in Ukraine.

Taylor Wilson:

For all the latest from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, stay with our Live Updates page on USATODAY.com.

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Retail inventories are set for this summer, but beyond that, new supply chain strains could cause headaches later this year. Money reporter Medora Lee has more.

Medora Lee:

I think this summer everybody is pretty safe. The retailers have told me that they are well stocked. After the big Christmas rush, they were able to get their inventory restocked pretty well. The only problem is that we are going to, like everything else, have to pay higher prices for things this summer. For example, your 4th of July fireworks show, on average, it's probably going to cost about 15% more than last year.

PJ Elliott:

What about after the summer? What, what can we expect?

Medora Lee:

There's a little bit of an issue brewing. Supply chains seemed to have worsened recently in March because of the Ukraine war limiting the supply of raw materials to produce things and a lockdown in China with China's no COVID policy. They've locked down a lot of regions in China, so that has snarled the supply chain a bit. So that's slowed down things a little bit. Retailers are now looking, just in case after last year's crunch at Christmas, to try to start a little earlier to fill up their inventory for Christmas, if you can believe it. It's only, what, spring, but they're working on it. Here is the wild card. No matter how much they plan and how much they work to do that, we could also get another curve ball if there's a strike in the ports in LA. The workers there have a contract that's going to expire at the end of June. If they don't get a contract, they may go on strike. Who knows what will be on our shelves at Christmas this year.

♦

The first round of the 2022 NFL draft is in the books. The Jacksonville Jaguars went with Travon Walker first overall, the defensive end out of Georgia. Michigan defensive end, Aidan Hutchinson, went number two to the Detroit Lions, followed by LSU defensive back, Derek Stingley, to the Houston Texans at number three. As for the night's biggest surprises, Draft Wire's Luke Easterling makes sense of some big wide receiver moves.

Luke Easterling:

We expected a lot of these guys to go in the first round, but we didn't expect the movement we saw outside of the draft with the veteran receivers. We saw Marquise Brown, that I mentioned earlier, going to Arizona from Baltimore in a trade that involved a first round pick tonight. Then we saw the other deal with Tennessee sending A.J. Brown to Philly and him getting a new contract extension with the Eagles there, again, changing hands with a top 20 pick.

Yeah, the wide receiver market, again, this started earlier in the off-season when we saw trades for Davante Adams, and we saw a trade for Tyreek Hill. We got the Deebo Samuel situation with him wanting a new contract in San Francisco as well. So the wide receiver market definitely seems to be driving this whole thing. The wide receiver drafts started driving this whole thing tonight when we saw Drake London come off the board at number eight to Atlanta, Garrett Wilson, again, to the Jets at 10. Then you saw teams trading up over and over again. We've thought for a long time that you can kind of get receivers wherever. Now it's becoming a premium position, and I think it's going to be even more valuable to these teams that don't want to pay these big contracts to the guys that are coming up in free agency, but would rather spend first round picks on these young guys and get them on cheaper deals.

Taylor Wilson:

Tonight the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will open things up with their first pick of the draft at number 33 overall and the start of the second round. You can watch the second and third rounds beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 4:00 Pacific on ABC, ESPN, and NFL Network.

♦

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is back. The Fest took a two-year hiatus because of the pandemic, but begins today with all kinds of big headliners. They include The Who, Lionel Richie, Stevie Nicks, Willie Nelson, Foo Fighters, and more. Jazz Fest celebrates the indigenous music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana encompassing a slew of genres like R&B, Afro-Caribbean, bluegrass, and, of course, contemporary and traditional jazz. There's also a custom that some may find unusual, jazz funerals. Musician Oscar Washington explained back in 2015.

Oscar Washington:

A jazz funeral is basically about the life of the person that's deceased, may it be somebody popular in the music world or in the business world or whatever, or just an ordinary person. It starts out seeming like it's a sad thing, which it is a sad occasion, but a sad occasion turning into a joyous one. It was always said to be that, if you cry when you're born into this world, and then it's a joyous occasion when you leave out. That's basically the basis of a jazz funeral. It's the times that you were born in, tough times in a tough world, and when you are gone back to glory, it's a joyous thing.

Taylor Wilson:

One of those set to be remembered with jazz funerals this year, according to nola.com, is George Wein, Jazz Fest founder who died last year. The festival begins today and runs through Sunday before a second weekend next Thursday through Sunday. You can read more at USATODAY.com/entertainment.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us on whatever your favorite podcast app is seven mornings a week. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What Twitter going private really means, NFL Draft recap: 5 Things podcast