Musk to talk Tesla Gigafactory with Macron again
For the second time in just over a month, Musk will meet with Macron to discuss building a Tesla Gigafactory in France. France has been courting Tesla to build factories in the country, but is competing with other EU countries like Spain, which is also in talks with Tesla. Macron:
I’m going (into that meeting) with an agenda. We’re going to talk about artificial intelligence, in which he is involved, social media, regulation framework… And then I’ll also talk to him about cars, batteries, to promote French and European attractiveness.
Asked specifically whether he was hoping to secure a Tesla Gigafactory, Macron says: “It’s up to the company to look at these different issues in Europe. So we’ll be selling France” as an investment destination. In addition to saying that France has invested in an “entire sector of electric batteries” and will try to convince Musk “that France is the best possible place in Europe to establish the next Tesla factory,” French minister for digital affairs Jean-Noel Barrot says:
It will be great to have a Tesla factory in France. There has been a lot of effort and energy to make sure this is possible and this can happen.
Musk and Macron will also discuss tech regulation.
Tesla in talks to build factory in Spain
In a bid to build a factory there, Tesla is negotiating with the regional government of Valencia in Spain. A spokesperson for Valencia’s government says it had held meetings and conversations with a company about a “large automobile investment,” but did not specify which company it was, citing the confidentiality of the negotiations. Tesla’s total investment in this enterprise could surpass 4.5 billion euros ($4.83 billion).
Twitter’s U.S. ad sales drop 59%
According to an internal presentation obtained by The New York Times, Twitter’s U.S. advertising revenue for the five weeks from April 1 to the first week of May was $88 million, down 59% from a year earlier. The document says the company has regularly fallen short of its U.S. weekly sales projections, sometimes by as much as 30 percent. The company has forecast that its U.S. ad revenue this month will be down at least 56 percent each week compared with a year ago, according to one internal document. Neither CEO Yaccarino nor Musk commented on the report.
According to staff interviews, Twitter’s ad sales staff is concerned that advertisers may be spooked by a rise in hate speech and pornography on the social network, as well as more ads featuring online gambling and marijuana products. In one week last month, four of Twitter’s top 10 U.S. advertisers were online gambling and fantasy sports betting companies, according to one presentation. Twitter has also started allowing ads for cannabis accessories, including “bongs, vapes, rolling paper,” as well as erectile dysfunction products and services, according to internal emails.
Former employees say some of Twitter’s biggest advertisers — including Apple, Amazon and Disney — have been spending less on the platform than last year, and that large specialized “banner” ads on Twitter’s trends page that can cost $500,000 for 24 hours and are almost always bought by large brands to promote events, shows or movies, are often going unfilled.
Fidelity: Twitter worth 33% of Musk’s purchase price
According to Fidelity, which helped finance Musk’s purchase of Twitter, its valuation of its equity stake in the company puts the total value of Twitter at $15 billion, around 33% of what Musk originally paid for it. Fidelity downgraded its holdings in the company by 56% a month after the acquisition, by 63% in February 2023, and now by 66%. Musk’s investment in Twitter is now worth $8.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which uses Fidelity’s valuation to calculate the value of his holding. Musk spent more than $25 billion to acquire an estimated 79% stake in the company in 2022.
Tesla releases promo video on Twitter
Tesla releases a two-minute Twitter video on its Tesla Asia account (which has only 172,000 followers, compared to its main account’s 21 million) called “Drive to believe.” The ad highlights Tesla’s Autopilot feature, infotainment system, the Tesla app, as well as featuring a Model 3 owner and mother of two children saying she was initially drawn to the vehicle because of its technology, but has grown to appreciate its safety measures as well.
I would say it’s one of the greatest gifts, that my kids can have, in terms of their future.
Drive to believe——why she chose Tesla? ❤️ pic.twitter.com/LXtGl15QUy
— Tesla Asia (@Tesla_Asia) May 19, 2023
Tesla reopens talks with Indian government
Senior Tesla executives visit India, meeting officials from Modi’s office and other ministries to discuss local sourcing of parts and more. The executives propose setting up a factory in India to build electric cars for domestic sale and export, but no location or investment has been specified. Though India previously declined Tesla’s request to lower the import tax on cars (causing earlier talks to end in gridlock), the matter is not being discussed during this visit.
X Corp acquires tech recruiting platform Laskie
In its first deal under Musk’s leadership, Twitter’s parent company X Corp acquires Laskie, a talent recruitment tool. Though the exact price of the acquisition is unclear, it was apparently “tens of millions” of dollars, with the deal including cash and equity elements.
Laskie is a San-Francisco based startup founded in 2021 by current CEO Chris Bakke, and apparently has somewhere between 11 and 50 employees. Its aim has been to connect tech talent with employers using tools that are “designed to make your job search faster, more efficient, and less stressful,” but now the platform’s website displays a message saying its platform is “no longer available.” Twitter has not publicly confirmed the deal.
Yaccarino hired as Twitter CEO
Musk announces that Yaccarino, who was previously head of advertising and partnerships for NBCUniversal, will take over from him as Twitter CEO.
I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter! @LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology. Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app.
I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology.
Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app. https://t.co/TiSJtTWuky
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2023
Musk announces Twitter CEO hire
Musk says he has found a new CEO for Twitter, a woman who will start in six week’s time. Musk does not revealed her identity. Musk says he will become CTO.
Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.
Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!
My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2023
Tesla to ‘cooperate’ with Samsung in IT development
Musk meets for the first time with Jay Y. Lee, Executive Chairman of Samsung Electronics, during Lee’s visit to the United States, to discuss ways Tesla and Samsung can work together in future high-tech industries, such as semiconductors for autonomous vehicles.
Musk breaks ground at Tesla lithium refinery
Joined by Governor Abbott (R), Musk breaks ground at the site of the Tesla’s $375 million lithium refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, after arriving in a Cybertruck with shovels strapped to the sides. Tesla says the facility will help it secure a domestic supply of lithium hydroxide, a key ingredient used to make its batteries. Musk says the availability of battery-grade lithium is a “fundamental chokepoint” for the electric vehicle industry and others. Tesla aims to produce enough battery-grade lithium at the refinery to manufacture one million vehicles per year, and to produce more lithium than the rest of North America’s refining capacity combined there.
Tesla promises it will use an “innovative” process, designed to consume less hazardous reagents, such as hydrochloric acid, and create “beneficial use opportunities” from byproducts, which they expect to be mostly sand and limestone. However, the company did not disclose the specific chemistry it would rely upon for processing. Musk:
There’s no toxic emissions or anything — you could live right in the middle of the refinery and not suffer any ill effects.
Abbott praises Musk as the greatest entrepreneur on Earth, saying:
Texas wants to be able to be self-reliant, not dependent upon any foreign hostile nation for what we need.
Increasing lithium refining capacity is critical to a sustainable energy economy—today, we're breaking ground on our in-house lithium refinery outside of Corpus Christi, TX.
This facility will also prioritize the elimination of a challenging refinery byproduct (sodium sulfate).… pic.twitter.com/mBnDBLNrW7
— Tesla (@Tesla) May 8, 2023
Twitter down to 1000 employees
Twitter downsizes to only 1,000 employees, including about 500 engineers, about 90% less than worked for the platform just before Musk took over. One employee states, “performance reviews are constant,” leading to frequent firings with little to no explanation given and causing remaining workers scramble to meet demands. Even before the slash, hundreds of workers had already left. Musk:
The issue is like the company’s going to go bankrupt if we do not cut costs immediately. This is not a caring, uncaring situation. It’s like if the whole ship sinks then nobody’s got a job.
Tesla stock drops nearly 10% over continued price cuts
Tesla stock (TSLA) drops nearly 10%, nearly $50 billion in market capitalisation, after Musk says the electric vehicle manufacturer will keep cutting prices in a bid to drive up demand in a weak economy. Focusing on sales growth rather than immediate profit, Musk said:
We’ve taken a view that pushing for higher volumes and a larger fleet is the right choice here versus a lower volume and a higher margin.
With this drop, Tesla’s market capitalization ending below Meta Platforms’ for the first time since 2021.
Musk launches X.AI
Musk launches X.AI, an artificial intelligence company. The company, incorporated in Nevada in March, has Musk as its director and Jared Birchall, the director of Musk’s family office, listed as its secretary. Musk plans for the firm to compete with the Microsoft-backed OpenAI. Musk reportedly sought funding from SpaceX and Tesla investors to get the company started. The X.AI name matches the branding of the X Corp. name he has since assigned to Twitter, along with the ‘X’ label he’s applied to his vision of an “everything app.”
Soros sells all Tesla holdings
Soros Fund Management, the family office of George Soros, sells its entire stake in Tesla. This includes stock as well as $35 million of convertible bonds. Soros bought the bonds in 2018 and the stock in 2022. When he purchased the latter, Tesla shares averaged $274, but at the time of sale they average just $173.
Neuralink in talks with brain implant surgery company
Neuralink is in talks with Barrow Neurological Institute, which has helped standardize brain implant surgeries in which the patient can remain asleep, as a potential partner. There are unverified reports that the company is also speaking with other centers.
Twitter source code posted to GitHub
Part of Twitter’s source code is posted on GitHub but has been taken down when Twitter requested its removal. In the takedown request, Twitter said an account called ‘FreeSpeechEnthusiast’ had infringed copyrights owned by the company, and asked for information that could identify the owner of the account. GitHub:
GitHub does not generally comment on decisions to remove content. However, in the interest of transparency, we share every DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] takedown request publicly
ARK sells $27m Tesla stock, buys Coinbase
ARK Investment Management’s Cathy Wood sells off $26.84 million of Tesla (TSLA) stock, at a closing price of $192.22, buying shares of Coinbase (COIN) instead. For a total of 139,642 TSLA shares, Wood’s firm sold 119,630 from its ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) and 20,012 from the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW).
Saudi, Abu Dhabi companies to invest in SpaceX
An Abu Dhabi-based company and a unit of Saudi Arabia’s investment fund plan to invest in a multi-billion dollar funding round for SpaceX. The round is reportedly expected to value Musk’s company at about $140 billion.
Musk buys land for own town
Musk’s companies are reportedly buying land in Texas with the hope of incorporating their own town, where employees can live and work. The town is to be called Snailbrook, an apparent reference to the mascot of Musk’s tunneling firm, the Boring Company. Snailbrook reportedly includes plans to build more than 100 homes, as well as neighborhood features such as a pool and outdoor sports area.