Months before a jury awarded a $242.5 million verdict against Tesla over its culpability in a 2019 fatal crash, the automaker had a chance to settle for $60 million. Instead, Tesla rejected that offer, according to new legal filings that were first reported by Reuters.
The settlement proposal, which was made in May, was disclosed in a filing that requested Tesla cover legal fees for the plaintiffs in the case.
Earlier this month, a jury in federal court in Miami found Tesla partly to blame for a fatal 2019 crash that involved the use of the company’s Autopilot driver assistance system. One person was killed when a Tesla Model S with Autopilot engaged plowed through an intersection and hit a Chevrolet Tahoe. The crash victims, Neima Benavides Leon and her boyfriend Dillon Angulo, were standing outside the vehicle on the shoulder at the time. Leon was killed while Angulo was severely injured.
The driver, who was not a defendant in this case, was sued separately for his responsibility. The lawsuit filed in 2021 against Tesla centered on Autopilot, which was engaged but did not brake in time to avoid going through the intersection. The jury assigned the driver two-thirds of the blame and attributed one-third to Tesla. As part of the verdict, the jury awarded the $242.5 million verdict as part of its decision.
Tesla, in a statement provided to TechCrunch earlier this month, said it plans to appeal the verdict “given the substantial errors of law and irregularities at trial.”
TechCrunch has reached out to the plaintiffs’ attorneys as well as Tesla. An outside PR firm that previously provided statements on Tesla’s behalf declined to comment and directed TechCrunch to the company’s press address. Tesla disbanded its communications team several years ago.
The lawsuit, case 1:21-cv-21940-BB, was filed in 2021 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
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I was sad to have missed the Monterey Car Week this year, especially because there were a number of reveals I was interested in, including the all-electricCadillac Opulent Velocity; the Chevrolet Corvette CX and CX.R Vision Gran Turismo concepts; and Lucid Gravity X reveals. But alas, the sprawling, Champagne-soaked grounds of Quail or the sea of seersucker suits and wide-brimmed hats at Pebble Beach Golf Course were suboptimal landscapes for my newly fractured and boot-encased foot. Next year!
In the meantime, I thought I would reach out to you, dear reader, to get your forecast on what’s in store for automakers and EV sales in the United States once the federal EV tax credit expires September 30.
My prediction? Well I don’t really want to taint the results, but I will say this: Automakers are going to have to do something in the short term to attract customers, and not just because of the expiring EV tax credit.
A little bird
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
Serve Robotics, the autonomous sidewalk delivery robot company, announced earlier this week that it acquired Vayu Robotics, a startup that has developed AI foundation models and a simulation-powered data engine for robots. The companies didn’t disclose the terms of the deal, but some back-of-the-envelope math and a little bird helped me determine that Serve Robotics paid between $45 million and $50 million for Vayu.
Several weeks ago, I highlighted a deal between Uber, autonomous vehicle tech startup Nuro, and EV maker Lucid. You can read about that here, but the important piece to remember is Uber’s commitment to make an undisclosed “multimillion-dollar” investment into Nuro. (Sources told me it is more than the $300 million Uber invested in Lucid.)
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Nuro has now raised more money in a Series E round that has reached $203 million from a group of new investors that includes Nvidia, existing backer Baillie Gifford, Icehouse Ventures, Kindred Ventures, and Pledge Ventures. And a portion of Uber’s investment has gone toward the Series E round.
Grid Aero, an aerospace startup, raised $6 million in seed funding from Calibrate Ventures and Ubiquity Ventures.
Group14, a battery materials startup, raised $463 million in a funding round led by battery manufacturer SK with participation from ATL, Lightrock, Microsoft, Porsche, and OMERS. Alongside the round, Group14 also announced it had “acquired full ownership” of a joint venture with SK in South Korea.
Oway, founded in 2023 and backed by Y Combinator and General Catalyst, recently closed a $4 million seed round. Read up on the company’s plan to build a decentralized “Uber for freight.”
Hertz will start selling preowned vehicles on Amazon Autos.
Redwood Materials said it is working with Caterpillar to recycle the battery packs from the company’s battery-electric underground loaders.
Tesla is planning to introduce in-car voice-assistant functions powered by DeepSeek and ByteDance’s Doubao artificial intelligence.
The Routing Company, a startup that helps transit agencies match riders with vehicles quickly and cheaply, landed Zoox as its first robotaxi client. Zoox will purchase a nonexclusive license for The Routing Company’s tech and will bring five of the startup’s engineers on board to “advance the efficiency and scalability” of its fledgling robotaxi service.
Volkswagenfaces a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey over the buttons on the steering wheel of its cars, including ID.4. The lawsuit alleges the buttons are too sensitive and too easy to activate unintentionally.
Waymo has been granted a permit to test its autonomous vehicles in New York City, the first such approval granted by the city. The company told TechCrunch it plans to start testing “immediately.”
In the world of drones and food, I suppose it was inevitable we would get Zipotle — a merging of the words Zipline and Chipotle. Zipline, an autonomous drone delivery startup, has partnered with Chipotle to fly digital orders to guests’ locations in the greater Dallas area.
One more thing …
Vanity Fair has a lengthy feature on Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana that digs into her past, how she manages, and, as the author notes, her un-Elon style. It’s worth the read and gives me an opportunity to remind you all that Mawakana will be on our stage at Disrupt 2025, which will be held October 27 to 29 in San Francisco.
DeepSeek’s namesake chatbot would be used for “AI interaction”, which enables a Tesla EV’s driver to have casual conversations with the system, while also getting the latest news and weather information, according to the updated terms of use posted this month on the US carmaker’s mainland website.
ByteDance’s Doubao large language model (LLM) would facilitate voice commands for navigation as well as in-vehicle media and amenities such as air conditioning, according to the updated terms.
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A user activates the upgraded voice assistant system by saying “Hey, Tesla” or another designated phrase, providing a more intuitive approach than clicking a button on either the EV’s steering wheel or multimedia terminal.
Volcano Engine, the cloud computing services unit of ByteDance, is responsible for the AI systems integration using an encrypted application programming interface, a protocol that enables different software applications to communicate.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Visitors check out a Tesla electric vehicle on display at the third China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing on July 16, 2025. Photo: EPA alt=Visitors check out a Tesla electric vehicle on display at the third China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing on July 16, 2025. Photo: EPA>
Tesla’s latest initiative reflects the carmaker’s efforts to boost orders on the mainland’s highly competitive EV market, as the AI systems from DeepSeek and ByteDance would appeal to domestic buyers.
Details on when Tesla’s upgraded voice assistant system would be available and on which models remain unknown. Tesla’s recently launched six-seat Model Y L SUV, which supports a voice wake-up feature, will start deliveries next month.
Tesla’s updated terms, meanwhile, cautioned users that AI-generated content “may be incomplete, incorrect or contextually unsuitable”, adding that the technology should not be used to “endanger national security” or “disclose state secrets” as stipulated by China’s laws.
Still, Tesla was nearly half a year late in adopting Chinese AI solutions. As of mid-February, more than a dozen domestic carmakers – including BYD, Geely and Stellantis-backed start-up Leapmotor – had already announced plans to release cars with DeepSeek-enabled AI features.
Total EV deliveries – comprising passenger cars and commercial vehicles like buses – slid 5 per cent from a month earlier to 1.26 million units in July, according to data from the government-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. It was the first month-on-month drop in the Chinese EV market since May.
ByteDance has become a popular AI supplier for carmakers on the mainland. Last year, the TikTok and Douyin owner teamed up with Mercedes-Benz to integrate its LLM into the German carmaker’s in-car systems in China.
The Beijing-based unicorn ByteDance had also formed an “automobile LLM ecosystem alliance” with more than 20 firms that included Geely and Great Wall Motor.
Elon Musk infamously threw Donald Trump under the bus in June when he insisted that the president was “in the Epstein files,” a reference to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But a newly released interview with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell might put the spotlight back on Musk when it comes to all things Epstein.
Maxwell, who’s in prison for sex trafficking a minor, was recently interviewed by Todd Blanche, the president’s former personal attorney and now a top official at the U.S. Department of Justice. Redacted transcripts of the interview, along with audio recordings, were published to the DOJ website on Friday.
Brin’s birthday bash
Blanche asked Maxwell about several powerful people, according to the transcripts, including Elon Musk:
TODD BLANCHE: Okay. So I want to just — we went through several individuals yesterday and I want to go through just a couple of more names and ask if you — if you know them. And if you do know them, how you know them. Do you know Elon Musk? GHISLAINE MAXWELL: I do. BLANCHE: And how did you meet Mr. Musk? MAXWELL: I met him in — I don’t remember the year, but it’s going to be in 2010, ’11, something like that, I think, if my memory serves. And I was at an event for Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google. And Sergey had arranged for — it was for his birthday. And we were — or a bunch of us, I don’t even remember how many we were, but not many of us. Maybe — I don’t know. If I say 40, I could be wrong. If it was 30 or 50, I don’t remember. I’m sorry. Went to another friend’s island. Somebody called Mr. Pigozzi in the Caribbean and — not with Epstein, he was not there, to celebrate Sergey’s birthday. And we were there together for, I want to say, three or four days, something like that in my memory. And Mr. Musk was present for that. BLANCHE: And that was the first time you met him, as far as you know? MAXWELL: As far as I remember, yes.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 that Epstein advised Sergey Brin on tax matters in 2007. But Musk and Brin have their own drama. In 2022, Musk denied having an affair with Brin’s then-wife Nicole Shanahan, who would go on to become Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate in the 2024 presidential campaign. Brin divested from all of Musk’s companies after the alleged tryst, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The photograph
Blanche then went on to ask Maxwell about Elon’s brother Kimbal, who was reportedly set up with a girlfriend by Epstein many years ago, according to a report from Business Insider in 2020.
BLANCHE: Did you meet — did you know his brother, Mr. Musk’s brother? MAXWELL: I don’t know if I’ve ever met him. I know that he has a brother and I don’t think I met him. BLANCHE: Aside from that time in — around 2010, on the island in the Caribbean for a couple days, did you — have you seen — do you know Mr. Musk beyond that time? MAXWELL: We met at — I was at the Oscars and we met at the Oscars. BLANCHE: What year was that, earlier or later? MAXWELL: It was post that event, I believe. BLANCHE: And do you know whether Mr. Epstein knew Mr. Musk? MAXWELL: I believe they did. And the only reason I say that is not from my memory, but because I saw — I think I saw — my memory is that in discovery, they were communicating on email. BLANCHE: So you have no personal knowledge of that? MAXWELL: I have no — BLANCHE: It’s just what you’ve — what you’ve seen from the press or from discovery? MAXWELL: And I believe his brother as well, actually. BLANCHE: Excuse me? MAXWELL: Mr. Musk’s brother as well. But I don’t — my — like I said, my memory is not — it’s not as good as I would like it to be. And I just want to say that.
Maxwell seems to be referring to a Vanity Fair Oscars party on March 2, 2014, where she and Musk were photographed together. Musk has previously suggested she photobombed him during that event.
Writing in a tweet from 2020, Musk insisted, “Don’t know Ghislaine at all. She photobombed me once at a Vanity Fair party several years ago. Real question is why VF invited her in the first place.”
But the fact that Maxwell claims they met years earlier, in 2010 or 2011, seems to be new information, provided Maxwell is telling the truth. Prosecutors alleged that she perjured herself, but dropped those charges after she was convicted of sex trafficking.
The President and that other birthday
This new interview will obviously be highly scrutinized, given the number of people who are named. But it’s also important to keep in mind what kind of incentives are at play for Maxwell, Blanche, and Trump. Not only was Blanche Trump’s former attorney, but he was also pretty damn chummy with Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus. Blanche appeared on Markus’s podcast twice, according to ABC News.
Trump has been cagey when asked about Maxwell, even giving a bizarre answer to questions during his first term when she was first sent to prison. During a White House briefing in July 21, 2020, Trump said, “I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well, frankly. I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach, but I wish her well, whatever it is.”
“I don’t know. I haven’t really been following it too much. I just wish her well frankly. I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach and I guess they lived in Palm Beach, but I wish her well whatever it is.” (July 21, 2020)
The Wall Street Journal and New York Times recently reported on a birthday album made for Epstein in 2003 that included friendly letters from men like billionaire Leslie Wexner, attorney Alan Dershowitz, and President Trump. The letter included a line that the two men “have certain things in common,” and reportedly states that “enigmas never age,” ending with the line “Happy Birthday—and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
A photo of the letter hasn’t been made public, but fake versions of the letter have gone viral online. Trump was friends with Epstein for at least 15 years before they had some kind of falling out. Trump defenders insist it was because Epstein was being a “creep” at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, while others believe it had more to do with a real estate deal where the men were competing to buy a property.
It’s extremely unusual for a high-ranking official at the DOJ to personally interview someone in prison. But these are extremely unusual times.
Tesla’s Cybertruck is widely viewed as an “unmitigated”commercial disaster, but that hasn’t stopped the company from deploying a variety of sales gimmicks to try to squeeze just a little more money out of the flop vehicle.
This week, Tesla launched a new version of its most expensive Cybertruck variants, known as the “Cyberbeast.” Tesla has marketed the “beast” as its most heavy-duty, high-powered variant, and originally promoted it with a video of the truck towing a Porsche while also racing a Porsche—and winning. The company was subsequently accused of faking the race.
When the “beast” was first announced back in November of 2023, it cost $99,990, which was $10,000 more than Tesla’s previously announced all-wheel drive model. Now, the company has hiked the beast’s price by $15,000, but added a few new features to justify the substantial increase. What do you get for that chunk of change?
Reuters reports that the newest version of the Cyberbeast includes something called the “Luxe Package.” This package includes a number of benefits, including Supervised Full Self-Driving, as well as four years of “premium service,” which includes tire and windshield protection and other services. You also apparently get free charging at Tesla’s network of 70,000 supercharging stations. The car now costs $114,990, the outlet says.
It seems likely that the demographic most likely to buy a Cybertruck already has so much money that they don’t really know what to do with it. After all, who else would drop six figures on a car that looks like an armored dumpster? Maybe Tesla presumes that its target audience has so much money and so little sense that another $15k won’t really matter to them, so why not try to bilk the customers for just a little bit more?
Since its launch, the Cybertruck has obviously struggled to find its footing. According to reports, Tesla originally planned for a production capacity of 250,000 trucks per year but sold less than 40,000 units in 2024, according to estimates from Cox Automotive. Since then, the model has limped along with anemic sales, and reportedly sold some 7,100 during the first quarter of this year. The car has been called a “flop,” a “failure,” and “the stupidest vehicle ever designed,” among other things.
NEW YORK — Federal auto safety regulators are investigating why Tesla has repeatedly broken rules requiring it to quickly tell them about crashes involving its self-driving technology, a potentially significant development given the company’s plans to put hundreds of thousands of driverless cars on U.S. roads over the next year.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a filing on Thursday that Tesla’s reports on “numerous” incidents involving its driver assistance and self-driving features were submitted far too late — several months after the crashes instead of within five days as required.
The probe comes two months after the electric vehicle maker run by Elon Musk started a self-driving taxi service in Austin, Texas, with hopes of soon offering it nationwide. The company also hopes to send over-the-air software updates to millions of Teslas already on the road that will allow them to drive themselves.
Investors enthusiastic about such plans have kept Tesla stock aloft despite plunging sales and profits due to boycotts over Musk’s support for U.S. President Donald Trump and far-right politicians in Europe.
The safety agency said the probe will focus on why Tesla took so long to report the crashes, whether the reports included all the necessary data and details and if there are crashes that the agency still doesn’t know about.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but the agency noted that the company has told it the delays were “due to an issue with Tesla’s data collection,” which Tesla says has now been fixed.
The new investigation follows another probe that began in October into potential problems with Tesla’s self-driving technology in foggy weather and other low visibility conditions, which has been linked to several accidents including one death. That probe involves 2.4 million Tesla vehicles.
The crash reporting rule for vehicles using Level 2 driver-assistance software, or those that require drivers to pay full attention to the road, was implemented in 2021. Since then Tesla has reported 2,308 crashes when the software was used, the vast majority of the more than 2,600 reported by all automakers, according to agency data. The numbers are skewed by the fact that Tesla is by far the dominant maker of partial self-driving vehicles in the U.S.
The company has been offering robotaxi rides in Austin to only a select group of riders, but said it will allow any paying customer to hail its cabs starting sometime in September, according to a Musk post on X earlier this month. Tesla has also begun allowing limited robotaxi service in San Francisco with a driver behind the wheel as a safety check to conform with California rules.
Investors in Tesla were initially cheered after Trump won the presidency in hopes he would reward his biggest financial backer, Musk, by getting safety regulators to go easier on the company. Now that isn’t so certain given Musk’s falling out with the president in recent months after Musk called Trump’s budget bill an “abomination” that would add to U.S. debt and threatened to form a new political party.
Tesla stock fell less than 1% in afternoon trading Thursday to $321.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) just announced an investigation into Tesla regarding its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) systems, according to a report by Electrek. The road safety regulator says the probe involves inconsistencies with how the company reports crashes regarding the aforementioned systems.
The NHTSA requires automakers to report crashes involving autonomous and driver assistance systems within five days of being notified of them. The agency claims that Tesla has sometimes waited months to report these crashes. It’s worth remembering that the company’s vehicles are outfitted with technology that automatically records and sends out data regarding a collision within minutes of an accident.
Tesla has acknowledged the issue but says this is all due to an error in its systems, which has since been fixed. However, the agency will continue the investigation, citing that it will “assess whether any reports of prior incidents remain outstanding and whether the reports that were submitted include all of the required and available data.”
NEW YORK (AP) — The typical compensation package for chief executives who run companies in the S&P 500 jumped nearly 10% in 2024 as the stock market enjoyed another banner year and corporate profits rose sharply.
Many companies have heeded calls from shareholders to tie CEO compensation more closely to performance. As a result, a large proportion of pay packages consist of stock awards, which the CEO often can’t cash in for years, if at all, unless the company meets certain targets, typically a higher stock price or market value or improved operating profits.
The Associated Press’ CEO compensation survey, which uses data analyzed for The AP by Equilar, included pay data for 344 executives at S&P 500 companies who have served at least two full consecutive fiscal years at their companies, which filed proxy statements between Jan. 1 and April 30.
Here are the key takeaways from the survey:
A good year at the top
The median pay package for CEOs rose to $17.1 million, up 9.7%. Meanwhile, the median employee at companies in the survey earned $85,419, reflecting a 1.7% increase year over year.
CEOs had to navigate sticky inflation and relatively high interest rates last year, as well as declining consumer confidence. But the economy also provided some tail winds: Consumers kept spending despite their misgivings about the economy; inflation did subside somewhat; the Fed lowered interest rates; and the job market stayed strong.
The stock market’s main benchmark, the S&P 500, rose more than 23% last year. Profits for companies in the index rose more than 9%.
“2024 was expected to be a strong year, so the (nearly) 10% increases are commensurate with the timing of the pay decisions,” said Dan Laddin, a partner at Compensation Advisory Partners.
Sarah Anderson, who directs the Global Economy Project at the progressive Institute for Policy Studies, said there have been some recent “long-overdue” increases in worker pay, especially for those at the bottom of the wage scale. But she said too many workers in the world’s richest countries still struggle to pay their bills.
The top earners
Rick Smith, the founder and CEO of Axon Enterprises, topped the survey with a pay package valued at $164.5 million. Axon, which makes Taser stun guns and body cameras, saw revenue grow more than 30% for three straight years and posted record annual net income of $377 million in 2024. Axon’s shares more than doubled last year after rising more than 50% in 2023.
General Electric Co. CEO Lawrence Culp Jr. signs a $52 billion deal by Emirates to purchase Boeing aircraft with GE engines, at the Dubai Air Show, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Lujain Jo)
General Electric Co. CEO Lawrence Culp Jr. signs a $52 billion deal by Emirates to purchase Boeing aircraft with GE engines, at the Dubai Air Show, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday, Nov. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Lujain Jo)
Almost all of Smith’s pay package consists of stock awards, which he can only receive if the company meets targets tied to its stock price and operations for the period from 2024 to 2030. Companies are required to assign a value to the stock awards when they are granted.
Other top earners in the survey include Lawrence Culp, CEO of what is now GE Aerospace ($87.4 million), Tim Cook at Apple ($74.6 million), David Gitlin at Carrier Global ($65.6 million) and Ted Sarandos at Netflix ($61.9 million). The bulk of those pay packages consisted of stock or options awards.
The median stock award rose almost 15% last year compared to a 4% increase in base salaries, according to Equilar.
Tim Cook attends the WSJ. Magazine Innovators Awards at the Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
Tim Cook attends the WSJ. Magazine Innovators Awards at the Museum of Modern Art on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
“For CEOs, target long-term incentives consistently increase more each year than salaries or bonuses,” said Melissa Burek, also a partner at Compensation Advisory Partners. “Given the significant role that long-term incentives play in executive pay, this trend makes sense.”
Jackie Cook at Morningstar Sustainalytics said the benefit of tying CEO pay to performance is “that share-based pay appears to provide a clear market signal that most shareholders care about.” But she notes that the greater use of share-based pay has led to a “phenomenal rise” in CEO compensation “tracking recent years’ market performance,” which has “widened the pay gap within workplaces.”
Some well-known billionaire CEOs are low in the AP survey. Warren Buffett’s compensation was valued at $405,000, about five times what a worker at Berkshire Hathaway makes. According to Tesla’s proxy, Elon Musk received no compensation for 2024, but in 2018 he was awarded a multiyear package that has been valued at $56 billion and is the subject of a court battle.
Other notable CEOs didn’t meet the criteria for inclusion the survey. Starbucks’ Brian Niccol received a pay package valued at $95.8 million, but he only took over as CEO on Sept. 9. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang saw his compensation grow to $49.9 million, but the company filed its proxy after April 30.
The pay gap
At half the companies in AP’s annual pay survey, it would take the worker at the middle of the company’s pay scale 192 years to make what the CEO did in one. Companies have been required to disclose this so-called pay ratio since 2018.
The pay ratio tends to be highest at companies in industries where wages are typically low. For instance, at cruise line company Carnival Corp., its CEO earned nearly 1,300 times the median pay of $16,900 for its workers. McDonald’s CEO makes about 1,000 times what a worker making the company’s median pay does. Both companies have operations that span numerous countries.
Overall, wages and benefits netted by private-sector workers in the U.S. rose 3.6% through 2024, according to the Labor Department. The average worker in the U.S. makes $65,460 a year. That figure rises to $92,000 when benefits such as health care and other insurance are included.
“With CEO pay continuing to climb, we still have an enormous problem with excessive pay gaps,” Anderson said. “These huge disparities are not only unfair to lower-level workers who are making significant contributions to company value – they also undercut enterprise effectiveness by lowering employee morale and boosting turnover rates.”
Some gains for female CEOs
This photo provided by Otis Elevator Co. shows CEO Judy Marks. (via AP)
This photo provided by Otis Elevator Co. shows CEO Judy Marks. (via AP)
For the 27 women who made the AP survey — the highest number dating back to 2014 — median pay rose 10.7% to $20 million. That compares to a 9.7% increase to $16.8 million for their male counterparts.
The highest earner among female CEOs was Judith Marks of Otis Worldwide, with a pay package valued at $42.1 million. The company, known for its elevators and escalators, has had operating profit above $2 billion for four straight years. About $35 million of Marks’ compensations was in the form of stock awards.
Other top earners among female CEOs were Jane Fraser of Citigroup ($31.1 million), Lisa Su of Advanced Micro Devices ($31 million), Mary Barra at General Motors ($29.5 million) and Laura Alber at Williams-Sonoma ($27.7 million).
FILEw – Jane Fraser, CEO, Citigroup, speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee oversight hearing to examine Wall Street firms on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILEw – Jane Fraser, CEO, Citigroup, speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee oversight hearing to examine Wall Street firms on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023 in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, arrives for a dinner at the Elysee Palace, during an event on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, arrives for a dinner at the Elysee Palace, during an event on the sidelines of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, File)
Christy Glass, a professor of sociology at Utah State University who studies equity, inclusion and leadership, said while there may be a few more women on the top paid CEO list, overall equity trends are stagnating, particularly as companies cut back on DEI programs.
“There are maybe a couple more names on the list, but we’re really not moving the needle significantly,” she said.
FILE- Mary Barra, chair and CEO of General Motors, talks to David Rubenstein during an interview hosted by the Economic Club of Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
FILE- Mary Barra, chair and CEO of General Motors, talks to David Rubenstein during an interview hosted by the Economic Club of Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
Prioritizing security
Equilar found that a larger number of companies are offering security perquisites as part of executive compensation packages, possibly in reaction to the December shooting of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson.
Equilar said an analysis of 208 companies in the S&P 500 that filed proxy statements by April 2 showed that the median spending on security rose to $94,276 last year from $69,180 in 2023.
Among the companies that increased their security perks were Centene, which provides health care services to Medicare and Medicaid, and the chipmaker Intel.
__
Reporters Matt Ott and Chris Rugaber in Washington contributed.
“No Model Y ‘refresh’ is coming out this year,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated earlier this year. “I should note that Tesla continuously improves its cars, so even a car that is six months newer will be a little better.”
Aside from the constant software updates, expect a substantially updated Model Y to land in Q1 of 2025. Efficiency and performance will be enhanced, and new damping will improve the ride. Inside, more of the primary controls will be moved to the touchscreen—including the gear selector—360-degree acoustic glass will be introduced, and rear passengers will gain entertainment screens for streaming content, gaming, and climate control.
All of which will be dissected and debated in that manic manner peculiar to Tesla adherents. Not everyone, however, who ends up in a Model Y has a voice. Point of fact, some of them can’t even speak. Yet they’ve exerted a powerful influence on the car’s design, and concerns for their well-being have reportedly contributed to the delay in the car’s rollout.
The Tesla Model Y is being redesigned with a bigger third row, making it more dog-friendly and thus potentially more popular in China.
Photograph: Courtesy of Tesla
Yep, apparently the car’s “cramped third row” is being redesigned to make it more dog-friendly and thus potentially more popular in China, where domestic rivals have roomier interiors. This is an unusual admission and one that raises a question: How many carmakers actively consider canine needs when developing new models?
Pooch Purchasing Power
“Our approach is to be function-agnostic. We try to make a great car that people will then find uses for,” says Andrew Wheel, director of production design and quality at Jaguar Land Rover. “We’ve always been cognizant of the fact that versatility and flexibility are key USPs.”
There isn’t a single carmaker that’s not fixated by its products’ “lifestyle” attributes. Some of this is marketing flimflam, of course, but plenty of us number dogs among the family unit, and the bigger breeds definitely crave space.
On which basis, there have been some interesting innovations. Tesla offers a “dog mode” that allows owners to maintain a comfortable cabin temperature while owners leave their vehicles. That’s monitored via a mobile app and a live camera feed, while passers-by are mollified by the cabin temperature shown on the car’s main display screen alongside an explanatory graphic. Note that the electric windows won’t work in dog mode, to avoid accidental pressing of the buttons, though that’s taking the idea of canine sentience a bit far.
Share prices were up 5% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the strong earnings beat.
Amazon (AMZN/NASDAQ): Earnings per share of $1.43 (versus $0.14 predicted) and revenues of $134.4 billion (versus $131.5 billion predicted).
Amazon Web Services (AWS) remains the golden goose, even though very few of Amazon’s retail customers know it exists. Revenues climbed 19% during the quarter, and totalled $27.4 billion. Amazon’s advertising revenues were another highlighted area of the report, as they were up 19%. Overall operating profits grew 56% year over year to $17.4 billion, mostly credited to the 27,000 jobs cut by the company since 2022.
Founder, executive chairman and former president and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos was in the headlines this week in his role as owner of the Washington Post. He refused to allow the Post’s editorial team to print their endorsement of Kamala Harris for president, and it was met with widespread outrage from Post readers. As of Tuesday, more than 250,000 subscriptions were cancelled as a result.
Fortunately for Bezos, he purchased the Washington Post (one of the world’s premier news brands) for “chump change”—$250 million (roughly a mere 1.2% of his net worth). So, if he drives it into the ground, I don’t think he’ll shed tears.
No doubt co-founder and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, is making similar calculations with his luxury purchase two years ago of Twitter (which he rebranded as X). Critics say he has turned the social platform into an echo chamber for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. What are the billions for, if a person can’t even enjoy themselves by buying a little media, am I right?(That’s sarcasm.)
So far we’ve yet to see analysis to show Bezos’ editorial decision affecting Amazon’s share price or revenue numbers. Apparently Republicans buy Amazon Prime, too.
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Microsoft, Meta and Google: Predictably incredible earnings
While not having quite as large a market cap as Nvidia and Apple, other mega tech stocks in the U.S. are no slouches. For example, Microsoft is also as valuable as the entirety of Canada’s stock exchanges at $3.2 trillion. Alphabet and Meta clock in at $2.1 trillion and $1.5 trillion respectively. (All figures in this section are in U.S. dollars.)
Other Big Tech stock news highlights
Here’s what these companies announced this week.
Alphabet (GOOGL/NASDAQ): Earnings per share came in at $2.12 (versus $1.51 predicted) on revenues of $88.27 billion (versus $86.30 billion predicted).
Microsoft (MSFT/NASDAQ): Earnings per share of $3.30 (versus $3.10 predicted), and revenues of $65.59 billion (versus $64.51 predicted).
Meta (META/NASDAQ): Earnings per share coming in at $6.03 (versus $5.25 predicted) and revenues of $40.59 billion (versus $40.29 predicted).
All three companies crushed earning estimates across the board. However, shareholders’ reactions to these earnings beats were still muted. Meta shares were down 2.5% in after-hours trading on Wednesday, and it was a similar situation for Microsoft. Alphabet fared better as its shares were up 3%.
It’s hard to put these numbers into the massive context into which they belong, because the world has never seen anything like these companies before. Here are highlights from the earnings calls. (Scroll the chart left to right with your fingers or press shift, as you use scroll wheel on your mouse to read.)
These questions, says immigration lawyer Ira Kurzban, are asked to see whether an applicant obtained their residence validly, a prerequisite for citizenship. US immigration authorities have, he says, become “very exacting” on this point over the past 10 years.
The US Citizenship and Immigration Service didn’t respond to an inquiry about whether forms used by its predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, asked exactly these questions at the time Musk would have been using them, but experts say he would have been asked substantively similar questions, as the relevant law hasn’t changed.
“Those grounds of deportability have been around for decades,” says Yale-Loehr, “and the forms back then probably had similar or identical questions.”
An immigrant who makes misrepresentations as part of the naturalization process can also face criminal exposure: Under US federal law, making a false statement to or concealing a material fact from the government carries a potential penalty of five years in prison.
Greg Siskind, a leading immigration attorney, doesn’t disagree that the law as written could expose someone who lied about working without authorization to loss of citizenship, but says that as a practical matter, it may not amount to a material fact.
“If he had disclosed it, would that have prevented him from getting later immigration benefits?” he asks. “The answer to that is probably no.”
Siskind nonetheless believes that there are serious questions here about, among other things, the nature of the professional relationship between the Musk brothers. And Musk’s past is highly relevant to the clearances he reportedly holds as a top government contractor with an extensive portfolio of holdings related to national security.
Even if Musk were found to have violated the law, he would not be summarily deported. “It’s generally quite difficult to revoke someone’s citizenship for relatively minor status violations which occurred decades earlier,” says Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, who adds that this is “a good thing given how easy it can be to violate arcane immigration rules.”
Under Trump, though, several experts pointed out, the government did far more to denaturalize citizens than it had previously. As Frost wrote in 2019, in the first year and a half of the Trump administration, USCIS opened an office dedicated to denaturalization, investigated thousands of citizens, and reported 95 to the Department of Justice with a recommendation for deportation. (From 1990 to 2017, there was an average of just 11 denaturalization cases per year.)
Even if USCIS had solid evidence that Musk had broken the law, it would, experts say, not handle the matter administratively, but rather could refer it to a US attorney’s office. Prosecutors, who have broad discretion to take up or decline cases, could then proceed, or not, as they saw fit.
Many of the open questions here could be cleared up by Musk authorizing the release of his immigration records under the Freedom of Information Act. His lawyer, Spiro, did not respond to a question asking whether he would do so.
Tesla, the electric car automaker, is set to take over the now vacant College Point shopping and entertainment center.
Photo via Google Maps
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Elon Musk is reportedly planning to open a Tesla facility in Queens.
The electric car manufacturer leased the 150,000-square-foot space at 30-02 Whitestone Expressway in College Point, according to an industrial report released earlier this month. The site was previously home to Toys “R” Us, Party WOW and the College Point Multiplex Cinemas.
After the theater was the last of the tenants to close its doors on May 5, a major demolition was planned for the lot. However, Triangle Equities, the real estate development firm that acquired the land in 2000, scrapped those plans in recent months, likely after Tesla expressed interest.
Their original plan, announced in Dec. 2023, was to develop a 425,000-square-foot multi-story logistics facility. They said the site was a prime location for such a facility, given its vicinity to major roadways leading to other boroughs, Long Island and Westchester.
According to the new report, the site will no longer be torn down and will instead be retrofitted into a two-story facility for Tesla. However, it’s unclear exactly what it will be used for exactly. Some speculate it will be a supercharging station, at least in some capacity.
According to The Real Deal, the College Point site will offer 700 parking spaces.
Tesla currently has a few showrooms and designated body shops in both Brooklyn and on Long Island, but none such locations exist in Queens. Given Tesla’s unique sales model of bypassing car dealerships, the company has been involved in several legal disputes in trying to expand its storefronts.
There are currently over a dozen charging stations, both regular and supercharged, scattered throughout the borough.
As part of a citywide investment into supercharging stations, the automaker also acquired a 40,037-square-foot lot in Maspeth earlier this year for $18 million.
Construction on the College Point facility will begin in the summer of 2025.
Despite these setbacks, CPKC posted an income gain of 7% year over year. The four categories that made the most impact were grain, energy, plastics and chemicals, and they grew revenues by 11%. CPKC says the shipment of wheat to Mexico from the Canadian and American Prairies over the past 12 months was exactly the type of “synergy win” that it was hoping for when the former Canadian Pacific acquired Kansas City Southern back in 2021. This railway remains the only one to span Canada, the United States and Mexico.
CNR CEO Tracy Robinson commented on the railway’s operational challenges. “Our scheduled operating plan demonstrated its resilience in the third quarter, allowing us to adapt our operations to challenges posed by wildfires and prolonged labor issues,” she said. “Our operations recovered quickly and the railroad is running well. As we close 2024, we will continue to focus on recovering volumes, growth, and ensuring our resources are aligned to demand.”
CNR’s revenues were up 3% year over year; however, increased expenses meant the company’s operating ratio rose 1.1% to 63.1% (indicating that expenses are growing as a share of revenue). The railway announced it was raising its quarterly dividend from $0.79 to $0.845. This raise of nearly 7% is right in line with CNR’s mission to conservatively raise its dividend payouts each year.
Thursday’s revenue miss left some Rogers shareholders shaking their heads.
Rogers earnings highlights
Here’s what the large mobile company reported this week:
Rogers Communications (RCI/TSX): Earnings per share of $1.42 (versus $1.34 predicted) and revenues of $5.13 billion (versus $5.17 predicted).
While solid earnings numbers did take away some of the sting, Rogers’ share price was down 3% on Thursday. Lower-than-expected numbers for new wireless customers were at the root of low revenue growth. The oligopolistic Canadian wireless market remains uncharacteristically competitive as Rogers, Telus and Bell all continue to fight for market share. That competition is hurting profit margins for all three telecommunications giants at the moment. (Unlike in past years, when the three telcos all enjoyed charging some of the highest wireless plan fees in the world.)
One highlight for Rogers was its sports revenue vertical, which was up 11% from last quarter. Rogers has really doubled down on its sports media strategy over the last few years and now owns a controlling share of the:
Toronto Blue Jays in the Major League Baseball league (MLB)
Toronto Maple Leafs in the National Hockey League (NHL)
Toronto Raptors in the National Basketball Association (NBA)
Toronto FC in Major League Soccer (MLS)
Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League (CFL)
SportsNet, a major Canadian sports network
Toronto’s Rogers Centre and Scotiabank Arena venues
Naming rights of sports venues in Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver
National NHL media rights in Canada
Local media rights to the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers
Partial local media rights to the Maple Leafs and Raptors
Several minor-league franchises and esports (gaming) teams
Despite owning all those household-name sports assets, it’s worth noting that Rogers’ wireless and cable divisions were responsible for close to 90% of revenues, with sports and media making up the rest.
A 60-year-old Roseville woman says she was kicked out of her Lyft ride because the driver did not have enough charge in his electric vehicle. See the story in the video player aboveIt happened early Friday morning as Catherine Smith was trying to get home from Sacramento International Airport.Smith said the driver made her leave the car near Base Line Road and Palladay Road in Placer County. “He kept pointing at his screen, saying, ‘I need to charge. I need to charge.’ That’s all he said over and over and over again,” said Smith. The one-lane road was extremely dark when KCRA went to take video of it Wednesday night. It’s in a rural part of the county with no street lights in sight. “He pulls over, gets out of the car, opens the trunk, takes all my luggage out. I get out of the car, he gets in the car, turns around, takes off and looks at me and says, ‘You can call another Lyft,’” said Smith. Smith began panicking as she was just left stranded on the side of a dark road. According to her Lyft ride history, she was picked up from Sacramento International Airport around 1 a.m. Friday.Halfway through the drive — Smith said they had to take a detour because of construction.”He kept saying, ‘I need a charge. I need a charge.’ And my brain just kept saying, ‘He needs to recalibrate because we took the little detour so that he gets paid, right,’” said Smith. Smith said the driver never explicitly told her that he meant he needed to charge his car to complete the drive. So, she was confused by his lack of communication every time he spoke to her. “He never said ‘No, ma’am. The car needs to be charged,’ at all,” said Smith. According to the ride history, the driver left Smith on the side of Base Line Road at 1:40 a.m. “I was in the dark left there. I started crying because I didn’t have any of my weapons from being on the plane, and I felt so vulnerable,” said Smith. After Smith realized she was stranded, she immediately reached out to Lyft. Lyft then alerted authorities, and a Placer County sheriff’s deputy arrived within minutes. The deputy stayed with Smith until another Lyft driver arrived. Lyft’s safety department sent Smith a message regarding the incident. “As a result of this report, we are reviewing this driver’s account to determine whether they should continue on the Lyft platform,” the message read.Smith was also refunded the cost of her ride and was told she would not be paired with that driver ever again. “I hope to get him off the road because he has no business driving. He couldn’t communicate clearly. He should have said, ma’am, I need to charge my car, which is unacceptable anyway, for a 20-minute drive,” said Smith. KCRA reached out to Lyft on Wednesday to confirm if the driver is still contracted on the platform. “Safety is fundamental to Lyft, and we never want anyone in our community to feel unsafe,” a Lyft spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday. “We are deeply sorry that Ms. Smith had to endure this distressing ordeal, and we have reached out to offer our support. The behavior described has no place in the Lyft community, and we have permanently removed the driver’s account from the Lyft platform.”
A 60-year-old Roseville woman says she was kicked out of her Lyft ride because the driver did not have enough charge in his electric vehicle.
See the story in the video player above
It happened early Friday morning as Catherine Smith was trying to get home from Sacramento International Airport.
Smith said the driver made her leave the car near Base Line Road and Palladay Road in Placer County.
“He kept pointing at his screen, saying, ‘I need to charge. I need to charge.’ That’s all he said over and over and over again,” said Smith.
The one-lane road was extremely dark when KCRA went to take video of it Wednesday night. It’s in a rural part of the county with no street lights in sight.
“He pulls over, gets out of the car, opens the trunk, takes all my luggage out. I get out of the car, he gets in the car, turns around, takes off and looks at me and says, ‘You can call another Lyft,’” said Smith.
Smith began panicking as she was just left stranded on the side of a dark road.
According to her Lyft ride history, she was picked up from Sacramento International Airport around 1 a.m. Friday.
Halfway through the drive — Smith said they had to take a detour because of construction.
“He kept saying, ‘I need a charge. I need a charge.’ And my brain just kept saying, ‘He needs to recalibrate because we took the little detour so that he gets paid, right,’” said Smith.
Smith said the driver never explicitly told her that he meant he needed to charge his car to complete the drive. So, she was confused by his lack of communication every time he spoke to her.
“He never said ‘No, ma’am. The car needs to be charged,’ at all,” said Smith.
According to the ride history, the driver left Smith on the side of Base Line Road at 1:40 a.m.
“I was in the dark left there. I started crying because I didn’t have any of my weapons from being on the plane, and I felt so vulnerable,” said Smith.
After Smith realized she was stranded, she immediately reached out to Lyft. Lyft then alerted authorities, and a Placer County sheriff’s deputy arrived within minutes. The deputy stayed with Smith until another Lyft driver arrived.
Lyft’s safety department sent Smith a message regarding the incident.
“As a result of this report, we are reviewing this driver’s account to determine whether they should continue on the Lyft platform,” the message read.
Smith was also refunded the cost of her ride and was told she would not be paired with that driver ever again.
“I hope to get him off the road because he has no business driving. He couldn’t communicate clearly. He should have said, ma’am, I need to charge my car, which is unacceptable anyway, for a 20-minute drive,” said Smith.
KCRA reached out to Lyft on Wednesday to confirm if the driver is still contracted on the platform.
“Safety is fundamental to Lyft, and we never want anyone in our community to feel unsafe,” a Lyft spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday. “We are deeply sorry that Ms. Smith had to endure this distressing ordeal, and we have reached out to offer our support. The behavior described has no place in the Lyft community, and we have permanently removed the driver’s account from the Lyft platform.”
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s road safety agency is investigating Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in documents that it opened the probe on Thursday after the company reported four crashes when Teslas encountered sun glare, fog and airborne dust.
In addition to the pedestrian’s death, another crash involved an injury, the agency said.
Investigators will look into the ability of “Full Self-Driving” to “detect and respond appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions, and if so, the contributing circumstances for these crashes.”
The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.
A message was left Friday seeking comment from Tesla, which has repeatedly said the system cannot drive itself and human drivers must be ready to intervene at all times.
Last week Tesla held an event at a Hollywood studio to unveil a fully autonomous robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals. Musk, who has promised autonomous vehicles before, said the company plans to have autonomous Models Y and 3 running without human drivers next year. Robotaxis without steering wheels would be available in 2026 starting in California and Texas, he said.
The investigation’s impact on Tesla’s self-driving ambitions isn’t clear. NHTSA would have to approve any robotaxi without pedals or a steering wheel, and it’s unlikely that would happen while the investigation is in progress. But if the company tries to deploy autonomous vehicles in its existing models, that likely would fall to state regulations. There are no federal regulations specifically focused on autonomous vehicles, although they must meet broader safety rules.
NHTSA also said it would look into whether any other similar crashes involving “Full Self-Driving” have happened in low visibility conditions, and it will seek information from the company on whether any updates affected the system’s performance in those conditions.
“In particular, this review will assess the timing, purpose and capabilities of any such updates, as well as Tesla’s assessment of their safety impact,” the documents said.
Tesla reported the four crashes to NHTSA under an order from the agency covering all automakers. An agency database says the pedestrian was killed in Rimrock, Arizona, in November of 2023 after being hit by a 2021 Tesla Model Y. Rimrock is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north of Phoenix.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety said in a statement that the crash happened just after 5 p.m. Nov. 27 on Interstate 17. Two vehicles collided on the freeway, blocking the left lane. A Toyota 4Runner stopped, and two people got out to help with traffic control. A red Tesla Model Y then hit the 4Runner and one of the people who exited from it. A 71-year-old woman from Mesa, Arizona, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The collision happened because the sun was in the Tesla driver’s eyes, so the Tesla driver was not charged, said Raul Garcia, public information officer for the department.
Tesla has twice recalled “Full Self-Driving” under pressure from NHTSA, which in July sought information from law enforcement and the company after a Tesla using the system struck and killed a motorcyclist near Seattle.
The recalls were issued because the system was programmed to run stop signs at slow speeds and because the system disobeyed other traffic laws. Both problems were to be fixed with online software updates.
Critics have said that Tesla’s system, which uses only cameras to spot hazards, doesn’t have proper sensors to be fully self driving. Nearly all other companies working on autonomous vehicles use radar and laser sensors in addition to cameras to see better in the dark or poor visibility conditions.
Musk has said that humans drive with only eyesight, so cars should be able to drive with just cameras. He has called lidar (light detection and ranging), which uses lasers to detect objects, a “fool’s errand.”
The “Full Self-Driving” recalls arrived after a three-year investigation into Tesla’s less-sophisticated Autopilot system crashing into emergency and other vehicles parked on highways, many with warning lights flashing.
That investigation was closed last April after the agency pressured Tesla into recalling its vehicles to bolster a weak system that made sure drivers are paying attention. A few weeks after the recall, NHTSA began investigating whether the recall was working.
NHTSA began its Autopilot crash investigation in 2021, after receiving 11 reports that Teslas that were using Autopilot struck parked emergency vehicles. In documents explaining why the investigation was ended, NHTSA said it ultimately found 467 crashes involving Autopilot resulting in 54 injuries and 14 deaths. Autopilot is a fancy version of cruise control, while “Full Self-Driving” has been billed by Musk as capable of driving without human intervention.
The investigation that was opened Thursday enters new territory for NHTSA, which previously had viewed Tesla’s systems as assisting drivers rather than driving themselves. With the new probe, the agency is focusing on the capabilities of “Full Self-Driving” rather than simply making sure drivers are paying attention.
Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said the previous investigation of Autopilot didn’t look at why the Teslas weren’t seeing and stopping for emergency vehicles.
“Before they were kind of putting the onus on the driver rather than the car,” he said. “Here they’re saying these systems are not capable of appropriately detecting safety hazards whether the drivers are paying attention or not.”
Netflix (NFLX/NASDAQ) shareholders were happy on Thursday, as they saw share prices rise 5% in after-hours trading on the back of another excellent earnings announcement. (All figures in U.S. dollars.) Earnings per share came in at $5.40 (versus $5.12 predicted) and revenues were $9.83 billion (versus $9.77 billion predicted).
Paid memberships also topped expectations, at 282.7 million, compared to the 282.15 million predicted by analysts. Netflix chalked up the increase in viewers to new hit shows such as The Perfect Couple, Nobody Wants This and Tokyo Swindlers, as well as new seasons of favourites Emily in Paris and Cobra Kai. Looking ahead to the next quarter, Netflix is banking on the new season of Squid Game and its foray into the world of live sports. Two National Football League (NFL) games and a massively anticipated boxing bout between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson represent new attractions for the streaming giant.
Photo courtesy of United Airlines
United Airlines shares take to the sky
Tuesday was a massive earnings day for United Airlines (UAL/NASDAQ) as earnings per share came in at $3.33, well outpacing the $3.17 that analysts were predicting. (All figures in U.S. dollars.) Revenues were $14.84 billion (versus $14.78 billion predicted). Shares were up more than 13% on the outperformance and the news that the airline was starting a $1.5-billion share buyback program.
Corporate revenue was up more than 13% year over year, while basic economy seat sales clocked an even more impressive 20% increase. Last week, the company announced new international routes headed to Mongolia, Senegal, Spain, Greenland and more.
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The inflation dragon has been slain
It doesn’t seem that long ago that annualized inflation rates were topping 8%, and there appeared to be no end in sight. Well, the end has arrived. Statistics Canada announced this week that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) annualized inflation rate for September had dropped all the way down to 1.6%. That’s substantially lower than the Bank of Canada’s 2% target.
Led by deflation in clothing and footwear, as well as transportation, the downward trend appears to be widespread. Gasoline was also down 10.7% from this time last year.
Of course, increased shelter costs remain the major concern for many Canadians. Rent increases were up 8.2% year-over-year; while that’s down from August’s figure of 8.9%, it’s still a bitter pill to swallow for many.
California’s public retirement system, also known as CalPERS, confirmed on Thursday its closely reviewing a request to divest from Tesla. Two organizations, the civil rights group Latino Justice and the National Institute for Workers’ Rights, sent the request in a letter to California State Controller Malia Cohen. Part of their reasoning included Elon Musk’s previous comments that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs should “d-i-e.” “These are serious issues, and we are closely reviewing the details of the letter,” said CalPERS spokesperson James Scullary. “CalPERS believes that the employees of every company in which we invest have the right to a safe and healthy work environment, one in which their fundamental human rights are respected.” “We’ve known about Tesla’s record discrimination against people of color for a while,” said Jason Soloman, the director of the National Institute for Workers’ Rights, in an interview with KCRA. “The CEO, Elon Musk, has tried to get all companies to follow his lead and give up on trying to prevent discrimination through sensible, diversity and inclusion efforts.” “CalPERS leadership has made statements supporting those values, they have publicly committed to advancing those values. But they have to put their money where their values are,” Soloman added. Musk has not commented on the request. The divestment request also comes as Musk continues to quarrel with the state of California, this time over the Coastal Commission’s decision to block his Space X rocket company from launching on the central coast. Members of the commission allegedly raised concerns about Space X’s employment practices and other political-related issues. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
California’s public retirement system, also known as CalPERS, confirmed on Thursday its closely reviewing a request to divest from Tesla.
Two organizations, the civil rights group Latino Justice and the National Institute for Workers’ Rights, sent the request in a letter to California State Controller Malia Cohen.
Part of their reasoning included Elon Musk’s previous comments that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs should “d-i-e.”
“These are serious issues, and we are closely reviewing the details of the letter,” said CalPERS spokesperson James Scullary. “CalPERS believes that the employees of every company in which we invest have the right to a safe and healthy work environment, one in which their fundamental human rights are respected.”
“We’ve known about Tesla’s record discrimination against people of color for a while,” said Jason Soloman, the director of the National Institute for Workers’ Rights, in an interview with KCRA. “The CEO, Elon Musk, has tried to get all companies to follow his lead and give up on trying to prevent discrimination through sensible, diversity and inclusion efforts.”
“CalPERS leadership has made statements supporting those values, they have publicly committed to advancing those values. But they have to put their money where their values are,” Soloman added.
Musk has not commented on the request.
The divestment request also comes as Musk continues to quarrel with the state of California, this time over the Coastal Commission’s decision to block his Space X rocket company from launching on the central coast.
Members of the commission allegedly raised concerns about Space X’s employment practices and other political-related issues.
Snubbed by Tesla, Mexico’s new president pledged Friday to create a Mexican-made small, affordable electric car to compete with vehicles imported from China.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said Teslas were too “onerous,” or expensive, for the Mexican market anyway. Tesla’s cheapest car, the Model 3, costs about $30,000.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in July the company had “paused” plans for a plant in Mexico, citing Donald Trump’s remarks about possible auto tariffs.
Sheinbaum said her government will try to bring together Mexican companies and researchers to produce a “compact, cheap electric car.”
“The idea is to use Mexican companies and Mexican researchers’ ingenuity, to bring them together to assemble this electric car,” Sheinbaum said. “The idea is to create production chains so that this entire electric car is made in our country.”
She cited electric vehicles from China and India — some of which are already flooding into Mexico — as examples. Small electric motorbikes from China have flooded Mexican streets in recent months, but Sheinbaum said motorbikes, which in Mexico are often ridden by three people at a time, were too dangerous.
The plan faces a number of problems, including the fact that Mexico doesn’t produce any lithium, the key ingredient for batteries, nor any mass quantity of batteries. High domestic electricity rates could also be a roadblock.
There are some clay-encased lithium deposits in northern Mexico, which the government nationalized under the last administration. However, Sheinbaum said the techniques for mining that lithium weren’t currently commercially viable, and that production from those sources was “a little bit more long term.”
And anybody seeking to charge a battery at home could face punishingly high bills. Mexico subsidizes low-level domestic power consumption at about 10 cents per kilowatt hour, a bit lower than the U.S. average.
But a vastly higher rate kicks in for any electricity consumption above the minimal level, which is basically just enough to power a dozen light bulbs, a washing machine and a refrigerator.
Moreover, Mexico’s decrepit power lines and transmission facilities are barely able to keep up with current demand, let alone widespread at-home charging of vehicle batteries.
Sheinbaum did not say what sales price Mexico was aiming at for its ultra-small electrical car, but that could be another problem.
Some Mexican discount stores are offering a tiny mail-order Chinese electric car for about $1,000. It would be very hard for Mexican manufacturers to compete with that motorcycle-level price.
Musk said in July “I think we need to see just where things stand after the election. Trump has said that he will put heavy tariffs on vehicles produced in Mexico. So it doesn’t make sense to invest a lot in Mexico if that is going to be the case.”
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Tesla has unveiled its new autonomous self-driving Robotaxi at its We, Robot event at Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles. The silver-chrome hue cybertaxi or cybercab has no steering wheels or pedals and uses AI technology to navigate roads and make passenger stops. It’s expected to completely revolutionize the taxicab industry when it rolls out sometime in 2026 or early 2027.
