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Billions wiped off Eli Lilly’s valuation after parody account is verified for $8

Billions of dollars were wiped off Eli Lilly’s valuation after a fake account was verified for just $8 thanks to Elon Musk’s new subscription service.

The pharmaceutical giant saw its stocks plummet by 4.5 per cent to 352.30. Health care stocks were broadly pummeled Friday as well.

It follows a tweet sent out by a parody account that claimed: “insulin is free now”.

The company tweeted shortly after the stock fell, but that didn’t stop billions of dollars from being wiped off its value.

Elon Musk has warned Twitter employees to prepare for “difficult times ahead” that might end with the collapse of the social media platform if they cannot find new ways of making money.

Workers who survived last week’s mass layoffs are facing harsher work conditions and growing uncertainty about their ability to keep Twitter running safely as it continues to lose high-level leaders responsible for data privacy, cybersecurity and complying with regulations.

That includes Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of trust and safety — a previously little-known executive who became the public face of Twitter’s content moderation after Musk took over and who had been praised by him for defending Twitter’s ongoing efforts to fight harmful misinformation and hate speech.

An executive confirmed Mr Roth’s resignation to co-workers on an internal messaging board seen by The Associated Press.

Related: Democrats keep Senate majority in devastating blow for Republicans

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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Tags: Elon Musk