Latest news with #Swasticars
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Who is Elon Musk and what is his net worth?
It seems like not a day goes by without billionaire Elon Musk making headlines. The boss of X (formerly Twitter), Tesla and SpaceX is the world's richest person and has used his platform to make his views known on a vast array of topics. He has charged ahead with human brain chip trials at his firm Neuralink - three patients currently have implants supplied by it. He's also played with turning X into a super app and tried to cement his presence in the fast-growing world of artificial intelligence, despite having warned it could lead to humanity's extinction. And Musk's reach has expanded further still, after Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 US presidential election - in which the Tesla executive played a key but controversial role. The president picked the self-proclaimed "first buddy" to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (or Doge - a nod to Musk's favourite cryptocurrency, Dogecoin). Musk denied a "hostile takeover" as his agency, which is not an official government department, implemented cuts such as dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which distributes tens of billions of dollars' worth of overseas aid every year. But also cut were sales and profits at Tesla, as some buyers objected to Musk's actions. Some online have used the moniker "Swasticars" to refer to them, following Musk's controversial arm gesture at a rally celebrating Trump's return to office. He announced his departure from the White House on 28 May. Days earlier, he had criticised one of Trump's signature policies, which includes multi-trillion dollar tax breaks and a pledge to increase defence spending. Musk told the BBC's US partner CBS News he was "disappointed" by the plan, which he felt "undermines" the work he did for the president on reducing spending. He said that while he would leave the White House, Doge's mission to cut government spending would continue and "only strengthen over time". It's not just in the US where Musk has waded into political controversy. In the UK, Musk accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of being "deeply complicit" in grooming gang "mass rapes in exchange for votes" - while Sir Keir accused critics of "spreading lies and misinformation". In Germany, Musk has endorsed the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), and urged Germans to back the party in forthcoming elections. In the UK and Germany, 71% of people said they took a negative view of Musk, with 63% saying they don't think he has much knowledge of national issues, according to YouGov. Born in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk showed his talents for entrepreneurship early, going door-to-door with his brother selling homemade chocolate Easter eggs and developing his first computer game at the age of 12. He has described his childhood as difficult, affected by his parents' divorce, bullying at school and his own difficulty picking up on social cues because of Asperger's Syndrome. At the earliest opportunity, he left home for college, moving to Canada and then the US, where he studied economics and physics at the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League college. In a 2010 essay for Marie Claire, his first wife, Justine Musk, a writer whom he met in college and married in 2000, wrote that even before making his millions Musk was "not a man who takes no for an answer". "The will to compete and dominate, that made him so successful in business, did not magically shut off when he came home," she recalled, adding that he told her while dancing at their wedding, "I am the alpha in this relationship." After being accepted to a physics graduate degree programme at Stanford University, Musk quickly dropped out and founded two technology start-ups during the "dotcom boom" of the 1990s. These included a web software firm and an online banking company that eventually became PayPal, which was sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5bn (£1.2bn). He ploughed his fortune into a new rocket company, SpaceX - which he aimed to make a cost-effective alternative to Nasa - and a new electric car company, Tesla, where he chaired the board until becoming chief executive in 2008. The two firms are credited with upending their industries, even as they sometimes veered close to financial collapse. More recent business ventures include his takeover of social media platform Twitter in October 2022. He dramatically reduced the size of its workforce including, controversially, cuts to teams responsible for keeping the platform safe; rebranded the company as X; and introduced new premium subscriptions so that the business did not rely on advertising alone for income. Musk's long-term ambition is for X to become an "everything app" offering a range of services. However, so far the value of the firm has plunged from the $44bn he originally paid to just $9.4bn, according to some estimates. Since Musk's takeover companies have been choosing to leave the platform in what's been termed "the great X-odus". Reports suggest hate speech has been growing under Musk's X tenure, and some firms don't want to be associated with that. Leaving X can be a tricky decision for brands He also has ambitions in the AI sector, being an early investor in ChatGPT's parent company before parting ways in 2018, and setting up his own company xAI "to understand the true nature of the universe" in 2023. In February 2024, he sued OpenAI and its boss Sam Altman, saying the firm he helped found had reneged on its non-profit, open source origins by hitching its wagon to Microsoft. A year later, Musk led a takeover bid which was firmly rejected by Altman, who suggested a $9.74bn counter-offer for X. "I'm never hugely convinced that he knows what he wants to do tomorrow," says journalist Chris Stokel-Walker of Musk's wide-ranging interests. "He very much leads by instinct." In a 2015 biography, author Ashlee Vance described Musk as "a confrontational know-it-all" with an "abundant ego". But he also called him an awkward dancer and diffident public speaker. In the press, he's been dubbed both a mad genius and Twitter's biggest troll - known as much for his lofty ambitions as his petty fights, not to mention the more serious lawsuits he and his companies have faced from regulators, investors and others over issues such as racial discrimination and the trustworthiness of his claims. Divorced three times - twice from the same woman, British actress Talulah Riley - Musk is frank about his faults. "If you list my sins, I sound like the worst person on Earth," he said in a TED interview in 2022. "But if you put those against the things I've done right, it makes much more sense." Those contradictions certainly haven't stopped Musk from amassing a fortune. According to Bloomberg's index, tracking the wealth of the world's billionaires, Musk is the richest of them all. It estimates his current net worth to be around $386bn, with his fortune soaring alongside Tesla's share price following Trump's election victory. That's based largely on the value of his shares in Tesla, of which he owns more than 13%. The company's stock soared in value - some say unreasonably - in 2020 as the firm's output increased and it started to deliver regular profits. The shares plunged at the end of 2022, with some blaming the distraction of the Twitter takeover for the fall, though they have since recovered a lot of ground. And throughout 2024 Musk was locked in a legal battle over a $56bn pay package from Tesla with a Delaware judge rejecting his claim to it for a second time in December. Judge Kathaleen McCormick called the pay-out an "unfathomable sum", and argued Musk had influenced the company's board and shareholders - with 75% of them voting to back his pay deal in June. Is Elon Musk worth his $56bn Tesla pay package? Musk also champions digital currencies and has a hand in several other smaller companies, including tunnel-maker the Boring Company. Musk, who wears the mantle of a workaholic proudly, has often said he's not in business simply to make money - claims he repeated recently with regard to his Twitter takeover. "Elon only gets involved with things if he feels that they're critically important for some reason... for the sake of society or humanity," says friend and Tesla investor Ross Gerber. For a long time Musk, who became a US citizen in 2002, resisted efforts to label his politics - calling himself "half-Democrat, half-Republican", "politically moderate" and "independent". He says he voted for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and - reluctantly - Joe Biden, all of them Democrats. But in recent years he's swung behind Donald Trump, who is a Republican. Musk told media company the Daily Wire that his transgender daughter was "killed" by transitioning, and that he "vowed to destroy the woke mind virus". He is now estranged from his daughter. Musk officially endorsed Trump for a second term in 2024 after his attempted assassination and became one of the campaign's foremost backers and influencers. He became critical of the Democrat party's stance on a number of issues, including the economy, immigration and gun control - decrying many of its policies as "woke". Musk also repeatedly claimed that freedom of speech, enshrined in the first amendment of the US Constitution, would be under threat with another Democrat government. He appeared at several Republican rallies in the run-up to the election, raised millions to fund a political action committee to help re-elect Trump, and frequently voiced his support for Trump in posts on X. Musk's America Super PAC also ran a controversial $1m giveaway to voters in battleground states in the last weeks of the campaign. Why tech bros are turning to Trump It was far from his first political controversy. He has shared controversial takes on X about issues facing countries worldwide, such as suggesting the UK was on the cusp of "civil war" amid violent unrest in August 2024. While Musk provided his Starlink satellite internet service to Ukraine, he also attracted criticism for refusing an emergency request from Kyiv to activate Starlink in Sevastopol, home to a major Russian navy port. In the US, he moved to Texas, complaining of California's regulations and high taxes; has clashed with union organisers; and, in the spring of 2020, decried coronavirus lockdowns as "fascist". In the past he has said that he sees his businesses as a form of philanthropy, because they are focused on solving major human issues, such as climate change in the case of Tesla. However, he has since moderated his views on climate change, tweeting that it is "real, just much slower than alarmists claim". Despite his own interest in artificial intelligence, he has also been one of the most prominent figures expressing concern about the supposed threat to humanity's future that super-intelligent AIs might pose. He has claimed that the rise of artificial intelligence, combined with a declining birth rate, could result in "not enough people" being in the world. Musk has had 12 children - six with his first wife, three with Canadian singer Grimes, and three with Shivon Zilis. Following the birth of his twins with Ms Zilis, he tweeted: "Doing my best to help the underpopulation crisis." Additional reporting by Tom Espiner & Tom Gerken Inside the rural Texas town where Elon Musk is basing his business empire What is Doge and why is Musk stepping back? How the world's richest person bought Twitter Racially charged row between Musk and South Africa over Starlink
Time of India
25-04-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
'Race with China to out-innovate': Trump administration eases safety rules for Tesla and other automakers
Representative image In a policy shift aimed at accelerating US leadership in autonomous vehicle technology , the Trump administration is easing federal safety regulations to help domestic automakers like Elon Musk 's Tesla stay ahead of Chinese rivals. The US department of transportation on Thursday unveiled a new framework that allows American companies to seek exemptions from certain safety rules when testing self-driving cars for non-commercial purposes—such as research and public demonstrations. "We're in a race with China to out-innovate, and the stakes couldn't be higher,' said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in a statement, justifying the move. 'Our new framework will slash red tape and move us closer to a single national standard ," he added. The move is intended to give US automakers greater flexibility as they push to develop fully autonomous vehicles. The administration is also revising crash reporting requirements for self-driving systems, a move directly addressing longstanding complaints from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has argued the rules are overly burdensome. Tesla, as the leading seller of partially automated vehicles in the US, has been disproportionately impacted by current reporting demands. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Invest $200 in Amazon without buying stocks to earn a second salary Marketsall Sign Up Undo While the obligation to report crashes will remain, the Transportation Department says it will be 'loosened' to remove 'unnecessary and duplicative' requirements—striking a balance between regulatory oversight and technological progress. The announcement comes just a day after Musk told investors that Tesla will begin rolling out self-driving taxis in Austin, Texas, this June. As China's BYD and other rivals rapidly scale up their autonomous vehicle programs, the pressure is mounting on the US to respond. Previously, such exemptions were granted primarily to foreign vehicles entering the US market whose home-country regulations differed from those in the US. Also read: 'India a very hot market but...': Elon Musk-led Tesla says 100% car tariffs make customers anxious The incentive for Tesla comes just days after the automaker reported a stark drop of 71 per cent in profits in its Q1 earnings report. European sales of Tesla vehicles experienced a significant downturn, showing a 45 per cent reduction in the EU market and an even more severe 62 percent decrease in Germany, as reported by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA). Tesla showrooms throughout Europe and the United States have faced vandalism and boycott actions, triggered by Musk's endorsement of public sector reductions and his alignment with far-right personalities abroad. Protesters in Milan displayed an effigy of Musk, whilst demonstrators in Berlin and London branded Tesla vehicles as "Swasticars." Soon after the reports were released, Musk stated his intent on shifting focus back to Tesla. During Tuesday's earnings call, he announced plans to reduce his time working for the 'Department of Government Efficiency' – a post he holds in Trump's administration – to just one or two days per week starting May. Tesla's shares rose nearly five percent following the announcement. Read more: Tesla's profits plunged by 71% in Q1 2025. Can Elon Musk turn it around? Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . Master Value & Valuation with ET! Learn to invest smartly & decode financials. Limited seats at 33% off – Enroll now!
Nahar Net
24-04-2025
- Automotive
- Nahar Net
Musk damaged Tesla's brand in just a few months. Fixing it will likely take longer
by Naharnet Newsdesk 24 April 2025, 13:50 Elon Musk has been called a Moonshot Master, the Edison of Our Age and the Architect of the Future, but he's got a big problem at his car company and it's not clear he can fix it: damage to its brand. Sales have plunged for Tesla amid protests and boycotts over Musk's embrace of far right-wing views. Profits have been sliced by two-thirds so far this year, and rivals from China, Europe and the U.S. are pouncing. On Tuesday came some relief as Musk announced in an earnings call with investors that he would be scaling back his government cost-cutting job in Washington to a "day or two per week" to focus more on his old job as Tesla's boss. Investors pushed up Tesla's stock 5% Wednesday, though there are plenty of challenges ahead. Who wants a Tesla? Musk seemed to downplay the role that brand damage played in the drop in first-quarter sales on the investor call. Instead, he emphasized something more fleeting — an upgrade to Tesla's best-selling Model Y that forced a shutdown of factories and pinched both supply and demand. While financial analysts following the company have noted that potential buyers probably held back while waiting for the upgrade, hurting results, even the most bullish among them say the brand damage is real, and more worrisome. "This is a full blown crisis," said Wedbush Securities' normally upbeat Dan Ives earlier this month. In a note to its clients, JP Morgan warned of "unprecedented brand damage." Musk's take on the protests Musk dismissed the protests against Tesla on the call as the work of people angry at his leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency because "those who are receiving the waste and fraud wish it to continue." But the protests in Europe, thousands of miles from Washington, came after Musk supported far-right politicians there. Angry Europeans hung Musk in effigy in Milan, projected an image of him doing a straight-arm salute on a Tesla factory in Berlin and put up posters in London urging people not to buy "Swasticars" from him. Sales in Europe have gone into a free fall in the first three months of this year — down 39%. In Germany, sales plunged 62%. Another worrying sign: On Tuesday, Tesla backed off its earlier promise that sales would recover this year after dropping in 2024 for the first time a dozen years. Tesla said the global trade situation was too uncertain and declined to repeat the forecast. Here come the rivals Meanwhile, Tesla's competition is stealing its customers. Among its fiercest rivals now is Chinese giant BYD. Earlier this year, the EV maker announced it had developed an electric battery that can charge within minutes. And Tesla's European rivals have begun offering new models with advanced technology that is making them real Tesla alternatives just as popular opinion has turned against Musk. Tesla's share of the EV market in the U.S. has dropped from two-thirds to less than half, according to Cox Automotive. Pinning hopes on cybercabs Another rival, Google parent Alphabet, is already ahead of Tesla in an area that Musk has promised will help remake his company: Cybercabs. One of the highlights of Tesla's call Tuesday was Musk sticking with his previous prediction that it will l aunch driverless cabs without steering wheels and pedals in Austin, Texas, in June, and in other cities soon after. But Google's service, called Waymo, already has logged millions of driverless cybercab trips in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin as part of a partnership with ride-hailing leader Uber. A driverless future for Tesla owners? Musk also told analysts that this driverless capability will be available on the Tesla vehicles already on the road through software updates over the air, and put a timeline on it: "There will be millions of Teslas operating autonomously in the second half of the year." But he has made similar promises before, only to miss his deadlines, such as in April 2019 when he vowed full automation by the end of the next year. He repeated the prediction, moving up the date, several more times, in following years. A big problem is federal investigators have not given the all-clear that Tesla vehicles can drive completely on their own safely. Among other probes, safety regulators are looking into Tesla's so-called Full Self-Driving, which is only partial self-driving, for its tie to accidents in low-visibility conditions like when there is sun glare. On the positive side In competition with rivals in the U.S., Tesla currently has one clear advantage: It will get hurt by less by tariffs because most of its vehicles are built in the countries where they are sold, including those in its biggest market, the U.S. "Tariffs are still tough on a company where margins are still low, but we do have localized supply chains," Musk said Tuesday. "That puts us in a strong position." The company also reconfirmed that a cheaper version of its best-selling vehicle, the Model Y sport utility vehicle, will be ready for customers in the first half of this year. That could help boost sales. Another plus: The company had a blow out first quarter in its energy storage business. And Musk has promised to be producing 5,000 Optimus robots, another Tesla business, by the end of the year. Pricey stock Even after falling nearly 50% from its December highs, Tesla's stock is still very richly valued based on the one yardstick that really matters in the long run: its earnings. At 110 times its expected per share earnings this year, the stock is valued more than 25 times higher than General Motors. The average stock on in the S&P 500 index trades at less than 20 times earnings. That leaves Tesla little margin for error if something goes wrong.
Time of India
24-04-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Tesla's profits plunged by 71% in Q1 2025. Can Elon Musk turn it around?
Elon Musk is facing one of his toughest tests yet: restoring confidence in Tesla's brand. The electric carmaker has seen its profits plunge by 71 percent in the first quarter of 2025, driven largely by a backlash against Musk's political affiliations and controversial role in President Donald Trump's administration. Sales of Tesla vehicles across Europe have dropped sharply, with a 45 percent decline in the EU and a staggering 62 percent fall in Germany alone, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA). Showrooms in Europe and the US have become targets for vandalism and boycott campaigns following Musk's support for public sector cuts and far-right figures overseas. In Milan, protesters hung Musk in effigy, while in Berlin and London, demonstrators labelled Tesla vehicles as 'Swasticars. ' Also read: 'Will spend less time at DOGE from May': Elon Musk to focus on Tesla as its profits plunge 71% Despite these setbacks, Musk appears intent on shifting focus back to Tesla. During Tuesday's earnings call, he announced plans to reduce his time working for the 'Department of Government Efficiency' – a post he holds in Trump's administration – to just one or two days per week starting in May. Tesla's shares rose nearly five percent following the announcement. Musk rejected claims that political controversies were damaging the brand, instead blaming recent sales drops on production halts caused by upgrades to the Model Y. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play this game for 3 minutes, if you own a mouse Undo Analysts, however, are not convinced. JP Morgan described the situation as one of 'unprecedented brand damage,' while Wedbush's Dan Ives, a longstanding supporter of Tesla, called it a 'full-blown crisis.' Also read: Tesla feels the heat: Elon Musk's DOGE politics hits Tesla profits Compounding Tesla's woes is the rise of aggressive competition, particularly from Chinese automaker BYD, which is developing ultra-fast charging batteries. European manufacturers are also rolling out new models with advanced technology, further eating into Tesla's market share. In the US, Tesla's dominance has slipped, with its EV market share falling below 50 percent. Meanwhile, Tesla continues to pin its hopes on autonomous driving. Musk reaffirmed that its Robotaxi service would launch in Austin by June, despite Google's Waymo already offering millions of driverless trips in several American cities. Musk insists that software updates will soon allow current Teslas to operate autonomously, although such promises have been made – and missed – before. Tesla's valuation remains lofty, trading at over 100 times its projected earnings, making the company highly vulnerable to further setbacks. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . Master Value & Valuation with ET! Learn to invest smartly & decode financials. Limited seats at 33% off – Enroll now!
Time of India
24-04-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
Musk damaged Tesla's brand in just few months, fixing it will likely take longer
Elon Musk has been called a Moonshot Master, the Edison of Our Age and the Architect of the Future, but he's got a big problem at his car company and it's not clear he can fix it: damage to its brand. Sales have plunged for Tesla amid protests and boycotts over Musk's embrace of far right-wing views. Profits have been sliced by two-thirds so far this year, and rivals from China, Europe and the US are pouncing. On Tuesday came some relief as Musk announced in an earnings call with investors that he would be scaling back his government cost-cutting job in Washington to a "day or two per week" to focus more on his old job as Tesla's boss. Investors pushed up Tesla's stock 5 per cent Wednesday, though there are plenty of challenges ahead. Who wants a Tesla? Musk seemed to downplay the role that brand damage played in the drop in first-quarter sales on the investor call. Instead, he emphasised something more fleeting - an upgrade to Tesla's best-selling Model Y that forced a shutdown of factories and pinched both supply and demand. While financial analysts following the company have noted that potential buyers probably held back while waiting for the upgrade, hurting results, even the most bullish among them say the brand damage is real, and more worrisome. "This is a full blown crisis," said Wedbush Securities' normally upbeat Dan Ives earlier this month. In a note to its clients, JP Morgan warned of "unprecedented brand damage." Musk's take on the protests Musk dismissed the protests against Tesla on the call as the work of people angry at his leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency because "those who are receiving the waste and fraud wish it to continue." But the protests in Europe, thousands of miles from Washington, came after Musk supported far-right politicians there. Angry Europeans hung Musk in effigy in Milan, projected an image of him doing a straight-arm salute on a Tesla factory in Berlin and put up posters in London urging people not to buy "Swasticars" from him. Sales in Europe have gone into a free fall in the first three months of this year - down 39 per cent. In Germany, sales plunged 62 per cent. Another worrying sign: On Tuesday, Tesla backed off its earlier promise that sales would recover this year after dropping in 2024 for the first time a dozen years. Tesla said the global trade situation was too uncertain and declined to repeat the forecast. Here come the rivals Meanwhile, Tesla's competition is stealing its customers. Among its fiercest rivals now is Chinese giant BYD. Earlier this year, the EV maker announced it had developed an electric battery that can charge within minutes. And Tesla's European rivals have begun offering new models with advanced technology that is making them real Tesla alternatives just as popular opinion has turned against Musk. Tesla's share of the EV market in the US has dropped from two-thirds to less than half, according to Cox Automotive. Pinning hopes on cybercabs Another rival, Google parent Alphabet, is already ahead of Tesla in an area that Musk has promised will help remake his company: Cybercabs. One of the highlights of Tesla's call Tuesday was Musk sticking with his previous prediction that it will launch driverless cabs without steering wheels and pedals in Austin, Texas, in June, and in other cities soon after. But Google's service, called Waymo, already has logged millions of driverless cybercab trips in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin as part of a partnership with ride-hailing leader Uber. A driverless future for Tesla owners? Musk also told analysts that this driverless capability will be available on the Tesla vehicles already on the road through software updates over the air, and put a timeline on it: "There will be millions of Teslas operating autonomously in the second half of the year." But he has made similar promises before, only to miss his deadlines, such as in April 2019 when he vowed full automation by the end of the next year. He repeated the prediction, moving up the date, several more times, in following years. A big problem is federal investigators have not given the all-clear that Tesla vehicles can drive completely on their own safely. Among other probes, safety regulators are looking into Tesla's so-called Full Self-Driving, which is only partial self-driving, for its tie to accidents in low-visibility conditions like when there is sun glare. On the positive side In competition with rivals in the US, Tesla currently has one clear advantage: It will get hurt by less by tariffs because most of its vehicles are built in the countries where they are sold, including those in its biggest market, the US. "Tariffs are still tough on a company where margins are still low, but we do have localised supply chains," Musk said Tuesday. "That puts us in a strong position." The company also reconfirmed that a cheaper version of its best-selling vehicle, the Model Y sport utility vehicle, will be ready for customers in the first half of this year. That could help boost sales. Another plus: The company had a blow out first quarter in its energy storage business. And Musk has promised to be producing 5,000 Optimus robots, another Tesla business, by the end of the year. Pricey stock Even after falling nearly 50 per cent from its December highs, Tesla's stock is still very richly valued based on the one yardstick that really matters in the long run: its earnings. At 110 times its expected per share earnings this year, the stock is valued more than 25 times higher than General Motors. The average stock on in the S&P 500 index trades at less than 20 times earnings. That leaves Tesla little margin for error if something goes wrong.
