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Tesla’s Model Y compact crossover vehicles at a showroom in Shanghai, China, on January 18, 2021.
VCG | Visual China Group | Getty Images

Amid ongoing port constraints and rising shipping costs, Tesla CEO Elon Musk urged employees Friday, in a company-wide email obtained by CNBC, to look for ways to reduce the cost of delivering electric vehicles to customers, rather than rushing orders out last-minute to hit its end of quarter sales goals.

This year, Tesla has struggled to deliver new cars to customers in the U.S. in line with originally promised date ranges. As CNBC previously reported, some Tesla customers here experienced delivery delays of months, leaving them paying out of pocket for rentals and ride-hailing apps, and needing to re-apply for loans due to slipped deadlines.

Tesla is not alone in leaving customers waiting longer than they had hoped for their new, fully electric cars. Last week, for example, newly public competitor Rivian Automotive notified people who had reserved their R1S, a sport utility vehicle, of delivery delays.

Still, sales have grown this year for Tesla seemingly unbowed by unpredictable delivery dates.

Vehicle deliveries, which are the closest approximation to sales reported by Elon Musk’s electric vehicle and renewable energy business, amounted to about 500,000 total in 2020. During the first three quarters of 2021, Tesla had already reported deliveries of 627,350 vehicles.

Since the start of 2021, the company has not provided a clear target for 2021 vehicle deliveries. But Tesla has reiterated its loose guidance for “50% average annual growth in vehicle deliveries” over a multiyear horizon, including on its third-quarter earnings call.

JL Warren Capital’s CEO and Head of Research, Junheng Li, wrote in a note to investors last week that she expects Tesla sales to continue to rise, at least in China this quarter. “Soaring gas price benefits all new energy vehicle brands,” in the country she noted.

Some 1.3 million electric vehicles were sold in China in 2020, according to Canalys research. The firm predicted that the number would grow to 1.9 million EV sales in China by the end of this year.

China remains the world’s largest market for new cars, with strong government support for going electric.

Here’s the full e-mail that Elon Musk sent out on Friday to all Tesla employees (transcribed by CNBC).

From: Elon Musk

To: Everybody

Subj. Q4 deliveries vs. cost efficiency

Date: Nov. 26, 2021 [time stamp redacted]

Per my email several weeks ago, our focus this quarter should be on minimizing cost of deliveries rather than spending heavily on expedite fees, overtime and temporary contractors just so that cars arrive in Q4.

What has happened historically is that we sprint like crazy at end of quarter to maximize deliveries, but then deliveries drop massively in the first few weeks of the next quarter. In effect, looked at over a six month period, we won’t have delivered any extra cars but we will have spent a lot of money and burned ourselves out to accelerate deliveries in the last two weeks of each quarter. 

We will still have quite a big wave of deliveries in the last few weeks of December, as we don’t yet have high volume production either in Europe or Texas, which means a lot of cars on boats from China to Europe and on trucks [and/or] rail from California to the East Coast arriving late in the quarter, but this is nonetheless the right time to start reducing the size of the wave in favor of a steadier and more efficient pace of deliveries.

The right principle is take the most efficient action, as though we were not publicly-traded and the notion of “end of quarter” didn’t exist. 

Thanks,
Elon

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Reddit shares plunge almost 25% in two days, finish the week below first day close

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Reddit shares plunge almost 25% in two days, finish the week below first day close

The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange prepares for the social media platform Reddit’s initial public offering in New York City on March 21, 2024.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Reddit shares are plummeting after experiencing a rally stemming from the social media company’s IPO last week.

Shares closed at $49.32, ending the week below their closing price on Reddit’s first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They closed at $50.44 last Thursday. Stock markets are closed on Good Friday.

Reddit shares began their downward spiral on Wednesday, when they sank about 11% to $57.75 at market close. That day, Hedgeye Risk Management described Reddit’s stock as “grossly overvalued” in a report cited by Bloomberg News, adding the company was on the firm’s “short bench.”

Earlier this week, Reddit disclosed in a corporate filing that CEO Steve Huffman sold 500,000 shares. Ben Silverman, vice president of research at Verity, told CNBC the move was expected and represents just “a portion of his holdings.”

Meanwhile, Reddit Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Wong disclosed that she sold 514,000 shares and now holds 1.4 million of the company’s shares.

“There’s always a bit of a disconnect, because the purpose of bringing the company public is twofold,” Silverman said. “It’s not just to generate liquidity for the company itself so that it can expand and grow. In these situations, it often allows insiders to cash out to generate liquidity, and that’s something executives have to consider here.”

“If the prospects are so bright, why are insiders selling?” Silverman added.

Reddit shares started off the week on a high note and soared 30% on Monday. The company’s shares then rose 8.8% on Tuesday to close at $65.11, even after New Street Research issued a neutral rating on the company.

The New Street Research analysts wrote in a note that they wouldn’t alter their $54 price target and that they expect “volatility into the first earnings report.”

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO:

Reddit shares slump after CEO Steve Huffman sells 500,000 shares

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Xiaomi releases electric car $4K cheaper than Tesla’s Model 3 as price wars heat up

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Xiaomi releases electric car K cheaper than Tesla's Model 3 as price wars heat up

Chinese consumer electronics company Xiaomi revealed Thurs., Dec. 28, 2023, its long-awaited electric car, but declined to share its price or specific release date.

CNBC | Evelyn Cheng

BEIJING — Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi said Thursday it will sell its first car for far less than Tesla’s Model 3, as price wars heat up in China’s fiercely competitive electric car market.

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said the standard version of the SU7 will sell for 215,900 yuan ($30,408) in the country — a price he acknowledged would mean the company was selling each car at a loss.

Tesla’s Model 3 starts at 245,900 yuan in China.

Lei claimed the standard version of the SU7 beat the Model 3 on more than 90% of its specifications, except on two aspects that he said it might take Xiaomi at least three to five years to catch up with Tesla on. He also said the SU7 had a minimum driving range of 700 kilometers (nearly 435 miles) versus the Model 3’s 606 kilometers. The company said orders had exceeded 50,000 cars in the 27 minutes since sales started at 10 p.m. Beijing time Thursday.

Deliveries are set to start by the end of April, Lei said. Lei also claimed that Xiaomi’s car factory, for which all “key” steps are fully automated, can produce an SU7 every 76 seconds. It was not immediately clear whether the factory was fully operational.

Earlier this week, the Xiaomi CEO said on social media the SU7 would be the best sedan “under 500,000 yuan” ($69,328).

The car is entering a fiercely competitive market in China, where companies are launching a slew of new models and cutting prices in order to survive. Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has partnered with traditional automakers, most notably launching the Aito brand whose vehicles are often on display in Huawei smartphone showrooms.

Tesla‘s Model 3 is the best-selling new energy sedan in China that has a driving range of at least 600 kilometers (372 miles) and costs less than 500,000 yuan, according to data from industry website Autohome.

Xiaomi targets 20 million premium users for its new electric vehicle, says president

BYD‘s Han sedan starts at 169,800 yuan, according to Autohome.

Nio‘s ET5 starts at 298,000 yuan, while Xpeng‘s P7 starts at 209,900 yuan, the data showed. Geely-owned Zeekr’s 007 sedan starts at 209,900 yuan, according to Autohome.

Sales of new energy vehicles, which include battery-only powered cars, have surged in China to account for about one-third of new passenger cars sold, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

Accessories

The heads of competing electric car startups Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto were among the featured guests at the Xiaomi SU7 launch event.

Lei on Thursday showed off a range of accessories such as an in-car refrigerator, a custom front-window shade, and a smartphone holder, some available for free with a car purchase before the end of April, and others for a separate price.

The SU7 supports Apple’s Car Play and can integrate with the iPad, Lei said. He also revealed driver-assist tech for highways and cities, set to be fully available in China in August.

Tesla’s Autopilot for driver assist on highways is available in China, but the company’s “Full Self Driving” for city streets has yet to be released in the country.

Despite saying Xiaomi wanted to compete with Porsche at a car tech event in December, Lei acknowledged that the SU7 had longer to go before it might be able to compete at this more premium level. He announced that the “Max” version of the SU7, aimed as a competitor with Porsche’s Taycan, would sell for 299,900 yuan.

Ecosystem of devices

The rapid rise of Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD

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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years for crypto fraud, pay $11 billion in forfeiture

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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years for crypto fraud, pay  billion in forfeiture

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison for massive crypto fraud

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday for the massive fraud and conspiracy that doomed his cryptocurrency exchange and a related hedge fund, Alameda Research.

The sentence in Manhattan federal court was significantly less than the 40 to 50 years in prison that federal prosecutors wanted for Bankman-Fried. But it was much more than the five to six-and-a-half years suggested by his attorneys.

“There is a risk that this man will be in position to do something very bad in the future,” Judge Lewis Kaplan said before sentencing the 32-year-old and ordering him to pay $11 billion in forfeiture to the U.S. government.

“And it’s not a trivial risk at all,” Kaplan added.

The judge said that in 30 years on the federal bench, he had “never seen a performance” like Bankman-Fried’s trial testimony.

If Bankman-Fried was not “outright lying” during cross-examination by prosecutors, he was “evasive,” Kaplan said.

Jurors at trial likewise did not buy Bankman-Fried’s version of events, convicting him in November of seven criminal counts and holding him responsible for losing about $10 billion in customer money due to the securities fraud conspiracy.

Kaplan on Thursday said the quarter-century prison term has “the purpose of disabling him to the extent that can appropriately be done for a significant period of time.”

Before being sentenced, Bankman-Fried spoke contritely even as he suggested that the billions of dollars customers lost was the result of a “liquidity crisis” or “mismanagement,” not fraud.

Indicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves the U.S. Courthouse in New York City, July 26, 2023.

Amr Alfiky | Reuters

“My useful life is probably over,” he said while wearing a beige jailhouse jumpsuit. “It’s been over for a while now since before my arrest.”

“They built something really beautiful and I threw all of that away,” he said of his co-workers at FTX, a company once valued at $32 billion. “It haunts me every day.”

“A lot of people feel really let down. And they were very let down,” he said. “And
I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage.”

“It’s been excruciating to watch this all unfold,” he told Kaplan. “Customers don’t deserve this level of pain.”

“I was the CEO of FTX and I was responsible.”

But even as he took some responsibility, Bankman-Fried suggested that customers eventually would get back the money they placed with his exchange, and blamed a federal bankruptcy court for not making those customers whole yet.

Kaplan appeared to stop paying close attention at that point.

In response, Bankman-Fried crossed his arms and began rapidly tapping his right foot as he continued speaking.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Roos, arguing for a prison sentence of up to five decades, scoffed at the picture painted by Bankman-Fried and his lawyers.

FTX’s collapse was not due to “a liquidity crisis or act of mismanagement,” Roos said. “It was the theft” of billions of dollars of customer money around the world, the prosecutor said.

“It was a loss that affected people significantly.”

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, in a statement after the sentencing, said, “Samuel Bankman-Fried orchestrated one of the largest financial frauds in history.”

“His deliberate and ongoing lies demonstrated a brazen disregard for his customers’ expectations and disrespect for the rule of law, all so that he could secretly use his customers’ money to expand his own power and influence,” Williams said.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “Anyone who believes they can hide their financial crimes behind wealth and power, or behind a shiny new thing they claim no one else is smart enough to understand, should think twice. I

Bankman-Fried’s family, in a statement, said, “We are heartbroken and will continue to fight for our son.” Both Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, who are Stanford Law professors, were in court for the sentencing.

Barbara Fried and Allan Joseph Bankman, parents of FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried, arrive at court in New York, US, on Thursday, March 28, 2024. Sam Bankman-Fried returns to court for sentencing after being convicted of a massive fraud that led to the collapse of his FTX exchange. 

Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Before he sentenced SBF, Kaplan said he rejected “the entirety of defendant’s argument there was no loss” at FTX, calling that claim “misleading, logically flawed and speculative.”

Several victims of Bankman-Fried then talked about the damage to their lives from his crimes.

Bankman-Fried looked at the victims as they talked to the judge.

Bankman-Fried plans to appeal his conviction and sentence.

Three other people, who all testified against Bankman-Fried at trial, are awaiting their own sentencings after pleading guilty to criminal charges related to FTX and Alameda Research.

They are Caroline Ellison, the Alameda CEO who at one time dated Bankman-Fried, FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, the co-founder and chief technology officer of FTX.

WATCH: The collapse of FTX: Insiders Tell All

This is developing news. Check back for updates.

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