Elon Musk Pitches Advertisers on a Return to X, Months After Telling Some to ‘F’ Themselves
The billionaire spoke onstage at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity about advertising, artificial intelligence and more
The billionaire spoke onstage at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity about advertising, artificial intelligence and more
Seven months after declaring that advertisers pulling their ads from his social-media platform X could “go f— yourself,” Elon Musk took a more congenial tone onstage at the advertising industry’s most important annual festival.
Musk joined Mark Read , chief executive of ad giant WPP, in a session Wednesday at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France, a five-day event that draws thousands of the industry’s chief marketing officers, tech leaders, creative workers and others from around the world.
“Back in November, you had a message to us. You told us to go f— ourselves,” Read said. “Why did you say that? And what did you mean by that?”
Musk said that he had not intended the message for advertisers as a whole.
“It was with respect to freedom of speech,” he said. “Advertisers have a right to appear next to content that they find compatible with their brands. That’s totally fine…What is not cool is insisting that there can be no content that they disagree with on the platform.”
X in November was grappling with the departure of several large advertisers in the wake of a post by the billionaire describing a post that espoused an antisemitic conspiracy theory as “the actual truth.”
Musk later that month called the advertisers’ response “blackmail” and said the advertising boycott was “going to kill the company.” He also said he had tried to clarify after his post that he hadn’t meant anything antisemitic
In Cannes on Wednesday, Musk also said that the company has worked to overhaul its abilities to match its users with ads using AI.
For advertisers who haven’t been on the platform but might be mulling a return, Musk said he believed it was “worth trying out.”
“We are very focused on having ads be shown to people who would find the ad interesting,” he said. “That is something we have done and are making a lot of progress on.”
He added that the platform still sees activity from the likes of world leaders.
“If you’re trying to reach senior decision makers, if you want to reach the most influential people in the world…the X platform is by far the best,” he said.
Musk and Read also spoke about the future of AI as it pertains to creativity.
Musk said his company Neuralink aspires to enhance human intelligence so that people can keep up with AI. “It will certainly amplify creativity,” he said.
Paine Schwartz joins BERO as a new investor as the year-old company seeks to triple sales.
The sports-car maker delivered 279,449 cars last year, down from 310,718 in 2024.
Paine Schwartz joins BERO as a new investor as the year-old company seeks to triple sales.
Private-equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners is backing BERO, a nonalcoholic beer brand launched by British actor and “Spider-Man” star Tom Holland.
A person familiar with the transaction said it values New York-based BERO at more than $100 million and will help support the brand’s ambitious growth plans.
BERO co-founder and Chief Executive John Herman said the company aims to more than double its sales team and significantly expand distribution to roughly triple sales this year.
BERO, which Holland and Herman launched in late 2024, reached nearly $10 million in sales in its first year and expects sales to reach almost $30 million this year, said Herman, who previously served as president of C4 Energy brand drink maker Nutrabolt.
“We weren’t just looking for capital,” Herman said. “We were looking for great partners that could help us grow.”
Paine Schwartz is investing through BetterCo Holdings, a portfolio company in the firm’s sixth flagship fund that it formed late last year to hold non-control investments in better-for-you food and beverage businesses, Paine Schwartz CEO Kevin Schwartz said.
Ultimately, Schwartz said he expects BetterCo to hold five to 10 investments.
BERO, BetterCo’s third investment, falls within the firm’s typical growth investment range of $10 million to $25 million, he said.
Earlier BERO backers include leading talent agency William Morris Endeavor Entertainment and venture-capital firm Imaginary Ventures, which also participated in the latest investment.
“This first external raise is not just a milestone, but a validation of what’s been achieved in a single year,” said Logan Langberg, a partner at Imaginary Ventures.
When they started BERO, Holland and Herman tapped as brewmaster Grant Wood, a past Boston Beer executive who went on to found Revolver Brewing, now part of Tilray Brands.
The brand currently offers four types of beer, including two IPAs. Its products are sold at Target stores, on Amazon.com and at other retail locations, such as supermarket chains Sprouts Farmers Market and Wegmans Food Markets in the U.S. and Morrisons in the U.K. BERO is also available at a number of liquor stores and bars and restaurants.
The company also offers a $55 a year premium membership that offers such perks as free shipping and access to member-only products and limited-edition releases.
To help build the brand’s name, BERO has struck a series of partnerships, becoming the official nonalcoholic beer partner of luxury sports-car maker Aston Martin and fitness studio chain Barry’s.
Nonalcoholic beers, which generally contain less than 0.5% of alcohol by volume, have become increasingly popular and account for the biggest share of alcohol-free drink sales, according to the Beer Institute, a national trade association.
Sales of such drinks are growing at a more than 20% annual rate and were expected to exceed $1 billion in 2025, according to market-research firm NielsenIQ, citing so-called off-premise channel sales it tracks, such as sales at liquor stores and grocery stores. But the bulk of those sales come from the top five brands, such as Athletic Brewing, co-founded by a former trader at Steve Cohen’s hedge fund Point72 Asset Management, NielsenIQ said.
Alcohol-free drinks, the market-research firm said, have emerged as a lifestyle choice—one based not on quitting alcohol but expanding options, with most non-alcohol buyers also buying alcoholic drinks.
“There’s a pendular swing in behaviours that [is] happening right now when it comes to people’s relationship with alcohol,” Herman said.
Corrections & Amplifications undefined Nonalcoholic beer brand BERO offers its fans a premium membership for $55 a year. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the membership costs $50. (Corrected on Jan. 20.)
Paine Schwartz joins BERO as a new investor as the year-old company seeks to triple sales.
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