Rani Molla
4/15/25
Tesla Technoking Elon Musk pushed aside his company’s long-awaited $25,000 car, known as the Model 2, in exchange for the Cybercab — even after internal Tesla analysis showed the pedal-less, driverless vehicles “might never be profitable,” The Information reports.
Musk hoped he could sell millions of Cybercabs to individuals and for ride-sharing, but the internal analysis pegged those sales in the hundreds of thousands. Meanwhile, Tesla could have actually sold millions of the now defunct Model 2, the report said. Musk shot it down and refused to produce both the low-cost car and the robotaxi.
“Two-thirds of Tesla’s sales were overseas in 2024, but the analysts determined that Robotaxis would likely be largely confined to the U.S. — for some years at least — because of the difficulty of obtaining regulatory approval abroad. Major countries like China and Germany would regard it as competition for their domestic brands.
Markets like India, Vietnam and some countries in Latin America would welcome a compelling, cheap, mass-market EV, the analysis predicted, but not necessarily the Robotaxi. In terms of EVs, those markets have now been effectively ceded to Chinese EVs.
Tallying all of that up, they determined that the Robotaxi venture would struggle and could lose money over a long period of time.”
Musk has been very vocal about how he believes the company’s AI and robotics ventures “will be overwhelmingly the value of the company” someday, and the company’s exorbitant valuation rests on those yet-to-exist bets coming to fruition. But for now, Tesla derives the bulk of its revenue from cars that people drive, which The Information reports Musk has fallen out of love with.
Musk hoped he could sell millions of Cybercabs to individuals and for ride-sharing, but the internal analysis pegged those sales in the hundreds of thousands. Meanwhile, Tesla could have actually sold millions of the now defunct Model 2, the report said. Musk shot it down and refused to produce both the low-cost car and the robotaxi.
“Two-thirds of Tesla’s sales were overseas in 2024, but the analysts determined that Robotaxis would likely be largely confined to the U.S. — for some years at least — because of the difficulty of obtaining regulatory approval abroad. Major countries like China and Germany would regard it as competition for their domestic brands.
See AlsoElon Musk's Starlink has a growing footprint in the federal governmentElon Musk Stands to Get Even Richer as Trump Backs $1 Trillion Budget for PentagonMusk and Trump fan the flames of the conspiracy theory that Fort Knox's gold was stolenSam Altman's lawyers roast Elon Musk in scorching new court filingMarkets like India, Vietnam and some countries in Latin America would welcome a compelling, cheap, mass-market EV, the analysis predicted, but not necessarily the Robotaxi. In terms of EVs, those markets have now been effectively ceded to Chinese EVs.
Tallying all of that up, they determined that the Robotaxi venture would struggle and could lose money over a long period of time.”
Musk has been very vocal about how he believes the company’s AI and robotics ventures “will be overwhelmingly the value of the company” someday, and the company’s exorbitant valuation rests on those yet-to-exist bets coming to fruition. But for now, Tesla derives the bulk of its revenue from cars that people drive, which The Information reports Musk has fallen out of love with.
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Rani Molla
4/17/25
Netflix rose in after-hours market trading after beating analyst expectations, with earnings per share of $6.61 versus the FactSet consensus estimate of $5.67 and quarterly revenue of $10.543 billion compared to the $10.5 billion analysts estimated.
Last quarter Netflix added a record number of subscribers, but it’s no longer reporting those numbers. Apparently the company didn’t hit a “major subscriber milestone,” as it said it would announce those as it crossed them.
Netflix previously said it would instead focus on user time spent and financial metrics — mainly operating margin and revenue. Its operating margin was 32% compared with 28.1% last year, and its revenue was up 13%.
Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Netflix has the goal of reaching a $1 trillion market cap (it’s currently worth less than half that) and doubling its revenue (which was $39 billion last year) by 2030.
Netflix has been considered a relatively safe pick amid a tariff-fueled market rout that has roiled tech and media companies alike. As Bank of America noted today, Netflix’s “strong subscription model with critical entertainment” is one that “historically has performed well in a recession.” Earlier today, Netflix was up about 9% on the year.
Rani Molla
4/17/25
A federal judge found today that Alphabet illegally monopolized some online advertising technology markets. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema said Google violated antitrust law in the markets for advertising exchanges and ad servers. Google was previously found to have a monopoly in search.
In the memorandum opinion, the judge wrote:
In sum, Plaintiffs have shown that Google engaged in “willful acquisition or maintenance of [its monopoly] power as distinguished from growth or development as a consequence of a superior product, business acumen, or historic accident” by tying DFP to AdX and committing a series of exclusionary and anticompetitive acts to entrench its monopoly power in two adjacent product markets.
The court will set a date to discuss remedies, which could include monetary damages and the divesture of Google’s publisher ad server and ad exchange products.
In the memorandum opinion, the judge wrote:
In sum, Plaintiffs have shown that Google engaged in “willful acquisition or maintenance of [its monopoly] power as distinguished from growth or development as a consequence of a superior product, business acumen, or historic accident” by tying DFP to AdX and committing a series of exclusionary and anticompetitive acts to entrench its monopoly power in two adjacent product markets.
The court will set a date to discuss remedies, which could include monetary damages and the divesture of Google’s publisher ad server and ad exchange products.
Rani Molla
4/16/25
Tesla is trading down more than 7% today, and that’s only its second-worst day this month — a month that began with auto tariffs going into effect. While Tesla, which assembles its vehicles in the US, is largely escaping the consequences of the first set of auto tariffs, the electric vehicle maker has had plenty of other bad news that’s weighed on it lately. Most recently:
Tesla’s sales last quarter dropped 15% in California (its biggest sales state in the US, which is its biggest sales country). Meanwhile, sales of all other EVs rose 35% in the state.
The Information reported that CEO Elon Musk canned the long-awaited $25,000 low-cost model in exchange for the Cybercab, which internal reports show might never be profitable.
Reuters reported that President Trump’s tariffs on China forced Tesla to suspend shipments of parts for its highly anticipated Semi and the aforementioned Cybercab, jeopardizing future product lines on which the company’s high stock price is built.
Oh, and the stock is facing a death cross, an ominously named technical pattern that could signal further losses.
None of that is to mention that there’s a downdraft happening in the stock market — and tech stocks more acutely — with the Nasdaq down more than 4%. That’s no doubt hurting Tesla.
Tesla releases earnings next week, when investors will find out just how much Tesla’s record drop in deliveries hurt its bottom line.
Tariffs on parts, which will more directly affect Tesla, go into effect May 3. It’s not clear if Trump’s suggestion of auto tariff relief will help Tesla there or not.
Rani Molla
4/16/25
Late Friday, US Customs and Border Protection posted a notice that smartphones, computers, and semiconductor equipment would be exempted from the 125% reciprocal tariffs in China, which sent Apple stock soaring.
Apple manufactures the vast majority of its iPhones in China and the older tariffs would have been devastating. By Monday, the Trump administration had clarified that Apple wouldn’t be “off the hook,” and instead would face sector-based tariffs for goods with semiconductors. Still investors hoped those wouldn’t be nearly as bad as the tariffs on China and the stock was up 5% in premarket trading at the beginning of the week. Now, halfway through the week, Apple has erased those gains.
While the stock’s gains since the announcement have vanished, it’s worth noting that the run-up in the shares on Friday was largely attributable to a flurry of chatter that the exemption was coming.
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