Intel posted profits in the latest quarter as the one-time America technology icon struggles to regain market share. The chipmaker reported net income of $4.1 billion, or 90 cents per share, in the three months through September, up from a loss of $17 billion, or $3.88 cents per share, a year earlier. Recently installed CEO Lip-Bu Tan has been cutting thousand of positions and mothballing projects to cut costs.
Elon Musk literally left a government job with a black eye, has seen profits at his car company sink and must worry about federal regulators disrupting his plans to unleash a fleet of driverless taxis on America’s roads in the next few years. And he’s still paying the bill for his messy of takeover of Twitter three years ago. Still one could argue he’s doing alright. Tesla’s rising stock price has added to his wealth and he’s weeks away from shareholders signing off on a pay package that could reward him with up to a trillion dollars.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings at Tesla fell to $1.4 billion, or 39 cents a share, from $2.2 billion, or 62 cents a share. That was the third quarter in a row that profit dropped. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts’ estimate. Revenue rose to $28.1 billion in the June through September period, beating Wall Street’s forecast. Tesla shares fell 1% in after-hours trading
Tesla announced the launch of cheaper versions of two of its electric vehicles Tuesday in hopes of reviving flagging sales. The new Model Y, costing just under $40,000 with a stripped-down interior, comes after sales have plunged for most of the past year. The company run by Elon Musk is also offering a new Model 3 for under $37,000. Tesla has been hit hard by boycotts in response to his vocal political positions and is also facing new, stiff competition from European and Chinese electric vehicle makers. The stock is near all-time highs even though both sales and profits have plunged in recent quarters.
The battle among billionaires for bragging rights as the world’s richest person got heated Wednesday with the surprising surge of an old contender: Larry Ellison. In a stunning few minutes of trading early in the day, stock in Oracle, the software giant that the college dropout co-founded, rocketed more than a third, enough to temporarily wrest the title from its longtime holder Elon Musk. But the stock market is fickle, and by the end of the day Musk was back on top, at least according to wealth tracker Bloomberg, as Oracle gave a bit of its gains. Musk is now worth $384.2 billion versus $383.2 billion for Ellison.
Europeans upset with Elon Musk still aren’t buying his electric cars, adding to a long losing streak for his company. That is according to data released Thursday by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. The report said Tesla sales plunged 40% in July in 27 European Union countries compared with the year earlier even as sales from all EV makers soared. Chinese rival BYD’s 1.1% market shares topped Tesla’s 0.7%. Tesla’s billionaire CEO angered many Europeans by embracing far-right politicians earlier this year. The company hopes sales will climb after it introduces cheaper vehicles to the market soon.
Federal auto safety regulators have opened an investigation into why Tesla has repeatedly broken rules requiring it to tell them quickly about crashes involving its self-driving technology that may soon be deployed in millions of its cars on U.S. roads. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday that “numerous” incidents involving Tesla’s 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.
A public document filed by a company that just hired President Donald Trump’s two oldest sons as advisers included a sentence early Monday that said it hoped to benefit from grants and other incentives from the federal government, which their father happens to lead. But the company later deleted the line from the document. That came after The Associated Press asked the Trump family business about the apparent conflict of interest. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are getting “founder shares” worth millions of dollars in New America Acquisition 1 Corp., according to the filing. Lawyers who prepared the filing said the earlier inclusion of the line was a “mistake” by a copyist.
The fallout from Elon Musk’s plunge into politics a year ago is still hammering his Tesla business as both sales and profits fell sharply again in the latest quarter. The car company that has faced boycotts for months said Wednesday that sales dropped 12% and profits slumped 16% in the three months through June. Quarterly profits at the electric vehicle, battery and robotics company fell to $1.17 billion from $1.4 billion a year ago. That was the third quarter in a row of lower profit. Musk is pinning the future of the company less on car sales and more on robotaxis, automated driving software and robotics.
The Trump family may be having second thoughts about that “Made in the USA” claim attached to its new Trump-branded phone, which raises an interesting question: How to define “made”? The four words that just a few days ago appeared on a website where customers can pre-order the $499 phones with an American flag etched on the back have disappeared. In their place are much vaguer words, such as “proudly American” and “brought to life right here in the U.S.A.” It’s not clear why the Trump family is changing the language, but the Federal Trade Commission requires that items labeled “Made in USA,” be “all or virtually all” produced in the U.S. and several firms have been sued over misusing the term.
Tesla sales in Europe plunged for a fifth month in a row in May, a blow to investors who had hoped anger toward Elon Musk would have faded by now. The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association said the drop of 28% last month in 30 European countries came even as the overall market for electric vehicles expanded sharply. The poor showing comes after Tesla’s billionaire CEO promised a “major rebound” was coming soon. Musk had angered Europeans by embracing far right-wing politicians in elections there. Investors dumped Tesla shares Wednesday, pushing the prices down 4% in early afternoon trading.
If oil prices are any measure, Iran just flinched. The price of oil tumbled Monday on a bet that Iran’s decision to bomb U.S. and Qatari bases signals it is not planning to do the one thing that could really hurt America: Shut down the flow of oil. The 7% drop came after a few anxious moments a day earlier when traders drove oil up on fears that Iran might try to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which much of world’s crude passes. Analysts note there is plenty Iran could still do to cause chaos in the markets. But fear has been replaced by an uneasy calm — for now at least.
A group of Democratic Texas lawmakers is asking Elon Musk to delay his rollout of driverless ‘robotaxis’ in the state this weekend to assure the vehicles are safe enough. The letter from seven legislators wants the Tesla CEO to wait until September when a new law takes effect that will require several checks before so-called autonomous cars and taxis can be deployed. Tesla plans a test run of a dozen robotaxis on Sunday in a limited area of Austin, Texas. It’s not clear if the letter will have much impact. Democrats are in the minority party in the state. Tesla did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Elon Musk stands to lose billions of dollars in his fight with President Donald Trump. The feud between Musk and Trump could mean Tesla’s plans for self-driving cars hit a roadblock. SpaceX might fly fewer missions for NASA and might not carry out Trump’s plan to send astronauts back to the moon. Starlink could get fewer overseas satellite contracts. And the social media platform X may lose advertisers. Experts said on Friday that the extent of the fallout is unclear, however. It all depends on Trump’s appetite for revenge.
