Lucid Motors’ big backer

Welcome back to TechCrunch PM! This afternoon we have some good things lined up, including lots of transportation news, such as Lucid Motors getting a big pay day from Saudi Arabia. We also look at shake-ups at the top of a few companies and who might be at fault for hacking millions of people’s voter data in the U.K. Enjoy!

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TechCrunch PM Top 3

Lucid Motors grabs another $1 billion: Building and selling a luxury electric sedan can be costly, so it helps to have friends in high places. Ayar Third Investment, an affiliate of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has agreed to purchase $1 billion worth of Lucid’s stock. This brings the Kingdom’s current stake in the company to 60%.

More trouble for Fisker: It seems talks between electric vehicle startup Fisker and Nissan have hit the brakes. This would have given Fisker collaboration with the automaker and a potential investment. Fisker is now going back to the potential investor to see if a rescue deal can still be made. To add insult to injury, Fisker’s share sales were suspended today on the New York Stock Exchange.

Match met its match: Dating conglomerate Match Group added two new people to its board after talks with Elliott Management, an activist investor known for forcing change. This move comes a few months after the Wall Street Journal reported that Elliott has built a roughly $1 billion stake in the company.

Afternoon must-reads

Another CEO steps down: Last week it was Stability AI’s CEO, and now Boeing’s CEO Dave Calhoun intends to leave his post by the end of the year amid some scary safety incidents. Stephanie Pope was appointed to take over. Meanwhile, Fortune has more on who Pope is.

U.K. points finger at China for voter data breach: The U.K. government says China is to blame for a 2021 cyberattack that compromised the personal information of millions of U.K. voters. It’s the first time the United Kingdom has attributed the breach since it was first disclosed in 2023.

Money, money, money: Global Screening Services, a London-based regulatory compliance platform that helps financial institutions meet their global sanctions obligations, raised $47 million.

Can you hear me now?: No? That’s probably because there’s so much noise. AI-coustics is out to change that so noisy recordings of interviews and speeches don’t have to be the bane of audio engineers’ existence anymore.

Early Stage 2024: Experience the electrifying lineup of Side Events taking Boston by storm during the week of April 22–28. As the countdown to TechCrunch Early Stage begins, we’re thrilled to share the events lineup to foster meaningful connections within the vibrant Boston tech community.

Around the web

CNN reports that a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by social media giant X against a watchdog group that reported hate speech on the platform. The judge called the lawsuit “punitive” rather than one that sought to protect the platform’s security and legal rights.

Meanwhile, Microsoft forgot to update this certain Windows feature for three decades. The Verge has more.

And it’s time to clutch those pearls — the Washington Post gets into how Chick-fil-A is dropping its pledge to serve chicken with “no antibiotics ever.”

TechCrunch Minute

Why the company behind Trump’s Truth Social joined the growing IPO trend: Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social, merged with its chosen SPAC and started to trade. It has an uphill journey ahead of it financially, but the fact that we saw two big debuts last week and one other public-market transaction means that the IPO window is back, right?

On the pods

On today’s Equity, Alex Wilhelm covered a lot of ground: Stocks around the world are in retreat, while crypto looks pretty good with some recent gains. The biggest news in startup land this morning is the exit of Stability AI’s CEO. The company’s revenue growth and burn rate have been the subject of some discussion before, which makes this new move important.

Over in the EU, a number of U.S.-based tech companies are under inquiry thanks to the new Digital Markets Act. At some point, you have to wonder if tech giants are going to find a better working relationship with the bloc.

Speaking of Europe, Spotify’s next push is another non-musical effort, which we had a few thoughts about. We also went over some news from China about the country getting the Vision Pro next and its push to get Intel and AMD chips out of state computers. We closed with this report about how beverage startups are fighting Coke and Pepsi for market share!

Listen here.

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