Like a college student who hangrily snapped at a parent during a family vacation, Elon Musk is walking back an earlier comment in an attempt to attract some funds.

During a session at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity yesterday, WPP CEO Mark Read asked Musk what he meant by telling advertisers “go f*** yourself” last year. Musk’s off-color comment, uttered on stage during the New York Times DealBook Summit in November, was a response to big-name advertisers like Disney, IBM, and Sony pulling their X ad dollars amid concerns about rising hate speech on the platform during Musk’s chaotic takeover.

Nearly seven months later, Musk has changed his tune. He told Read that the comment wasn’t directed at all advertisers but “was with respect to freedom of speech.”

Don’t call it another apology tour…

But Musk needs to make nice with a lot of CMOs if he wants to turn X around. X’s revenue fell 40% in the first six months of 2023 compared to the previous year, according to documents obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek. (Musk bought the company in late 2022.)

X execs claim 65% of its former advertisers have returned, and smaller companies have flocked to X’s cheap ad deals. But advertisers probably aren’t spending as much: in May 2023, X accounted for 3.7% of ad spending on social media; that number dropped to less than 1% as of April 2024, according to The Information.

Looking ahead…despite Musk’s recent attempt to woo ad execs at Cannes and his effort to get some credibility by hiring NBC ad legend Linda Yaccarino as CEO last year, he still wants to diversify the platform’s income streams. Musk has submitted paperwork to request money transmitter licenses, which would allow the platform to morph into a Venmo or PayPal clone.—MM

Did you know it takes 10k iPhone batteries’ worth of lithium to make one EV? With over 350m EVs projected to be sold globally by 2030, demand for lithium is expected to soar—and current extraction methods won’t be able to meet it.

EnergyX revealed their technology could extract 300% more lithium than traditional methods, and investors everywhere took note.

This led to $90m+ in investments from General Motors and others. Just last week, EnergyX announced Project Lonestar, a commercial US lithium plant with target production of 25k tons/year, supported by a $5m DOE grant.

Now’s your chance: You have the opportunity to invest in EnergyX before June 27 at their current $9/share price.

Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defense pact. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea, and the two increasingly isolated nations agreed to come to one another’s aid in the event of “aggression” against either of them. Though full details of the apparently sweeping deal to tighten their relationship were not released, the AP reported it could represent the strongest collaboration between the two countries since the Cold War.

First named storm of the season hits Texas. Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of what’s expected to be an intense Atlantic hurricane season, has begun pouring down on Texas, bringing floods. Meanwhile, a heat dome continues to create scorching temperatures in parts of the Midwest and across the Northeast, putting 71 million people under a heat advisory or warning with record-breaking temperatures forecast in many places.

Astronauts’ return to Earth delayed over Boeing ship’s issues. Boeing recently got a break from its PR troubles when it finally succeeded in its long-delayed launch of its Starliner rocket, which ferried two astronauts to the International Space Station. But now the company has a “what goes up must come down” problem. NASA and Boeing have postponed the astronauts’ return until at least June 26 in order to keep the spacecraft in orbit to study issues including helium leaks and malfunctioning thrusters, leaving the astronauts on the ISS almost twice as long as planned.

It’s not just Veruca Salt who isn’t getting a golden goose. The company known for selling shoes that look like they’ve been dragged through mud postponed its IPO, putting a pause on what has been a big year for European companies going public.

Golden Goose announced Tuesday it wouldn’t go public in Milan on Friday as planned due to fraught market conditions in Europe stemming from parliamentary elections across the Continent.

In France, President Macron’s recent decision to call a snap election caused volatility throughout the market, hitting the luxury sector particularly hard. But this goose remains golden: While other luxury retailers have struggled, the Italian sneaker company’s revenue rose 12% in Q1 this year.

The decision to wait came a day before the IPO was priced, but bankers had indicated that Golden Goose would debut on the lower end of its range of between €9.50 and €10.50 a share (or $10.21 and $11.28), targeting a valuation of around $2 billion.

Big picture: There’s a gray cloud over Europe’s IPO streak as political uncertainty keeps investors on edge. Over in the UK, a REIT called off its IPO last week due to tepid demand.—CC

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An incident that threatened the safety of US health inspectors in Mexico is now threatening to stress you out about guac availability. Inspections of US-bound avocados and mangoes in a major Mexican export region are on hold while the US Department of Agriculture investigates a recent situation in which locals detained and beat USDA inspectors.

The pause has been in place since Saturday…Reuters reported, after US agents were reportedly harmed during a labor protest in Michoacán, where organized crime has grown alongside the avocado boom. While the inspections are paused, Mexico won’t be able to clear any new Michoacán avocados or mangoes for US export. Michoacán grows nearly three-quarters of of Mexico’s avocados.

How key are these Mexican imports to the US? According to the USDA:

• Mexico provided 89% of the record 2.78 billion pounds of fresh avocados that the US brought in last year.
• On average, more than 63% of US mango imports come from Mexico.

But don’t worry too much. A safety incident that halted inspections of avocados in Michoacán in 2022 only lasted for about a week and didn’t really impact the US avo supply. Another Mexican state, Jalisco, now exports avocados to the US, and its inspections are currently business as usual.—ML

Unlike Sabrina Carpenter, most influencers can probably relate to desperation. Despite their carefully curated feeds that highlight lavish lifestyles, most of them aren’t making much money, the Wall Street Journal reports. There are ~50 million people making cash off social media posts, Goldman Sachs found last year, but according to marketing agency NeoReach, 48% of them made $15,000 or less. And just 13% raked in $100,000+. The numbers look better if you put a different filter on, though: Emarketer predicts that as a group, social media creators will make $13.7 billion this year, with 59% coming from brand sponsorships.