Tesla shares closed at $265.25 on Friday, Sept. 30. At market’s close one week later, Tesla shares were trading at $223.07, a decline of nearly 16%. It was the worst week for the stock since Mar. 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began to grip the U.S., shutting down businesses and public life.
Over the weekend, Tesla reported electric vehicle production and delivery numbers that did not meet analysts’ expectations.
On Monday, Musk proceeded to stir up a political firestorm by opining about how he thought Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine should be resolved.
After that, public records revealed that Musk had informed the Delaware Chancery Court that he would complete a $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October, a deal he had been trying to evade for months.
Tesla deliveries and AI Day
According to estimates compiled by FactSet-owned Street Account, analysts had been expecting Tesla to report deliveries of 364,660 cars for the period ending September 30, 2022.
But last weekend, Tesla reported deliveries of 343,000 total, and production of 365,000 electric cars — despite having started production at two new factories in Brandenburg, Germany, and Austin, Texas.
Analysts wondered if Tesla now faces demand erosion in China, where it is facing the steepest competition from BYD, the Warren Buffet-backed lithium ion battery and electric vehicle maker.
Tesla also held an engineer recruiting event late on Friday last week in which it trotted out a rough, early prototype of a humanoid robot and talked about remaining challenges and progress in developing self-driving technology that can turn its cars into robotaxis with a software update.
The robot demo failed to impress industry insiders but its potential captivated some fans and bullish analysts.
Musk on Russia
On Monday, Musk posted a Twitter poll gauging support for what he claimed was a likely outcome of the seven-month conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
He suggested new UN-supervised votes in Ukraine on whether certain divisions of the democratic nation under siege should join Russia. He also suggested Ukraine should cede Crimea to Russia, and that the nation should then remain “neutral” rather than aligning with either NATO or Russia.
The Kremlin praised Musk, but he drew sharp criticism from many others including Ukraine President Zelenskyy, Ukraine ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk, South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham and anti-Putin human rights activist and former chess champion Garry Kasparov.
Kasparov, who sought to block Putin’s rise to power and was jailed and beaten for his activism before fleeing the country, described Musk’s plan as a “repetition of Kremlin propaganda.”
Twitter deal back on
While Musk originally agreed to buy Twitter in April 2022, he spent months after that accusing the company of lying about its user metrics in financial filings, while fighting in court to get out of the deal he proposed.
Twitter had sued Musk to make sure the deal would go ahead as promised, seeing a windfall for its shareholders. Facing a deposition this week, and with a trial start-date looming, Musk sent a letter to Twitter and the court this week saying he would take the company private at $54.20 per share after all. He wanted Twitter, or the court, to stay the litigation, and a judge gave him until October 28th to wrap up the deal or proceed to trial.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO may have to sell another chunk of his shares of Tesla to finance the Twitter acquisition. He will only be able to do so on or after Oct.19, when the electric vehicle maker reports its third-quarter earnings.
On the upside…
Despite his volatile week, Musk at least notched a historic professional achievement at his re-usable rocket venture, SpaceX. The company launched four people to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Wednesday.
The mission is SpaceX’s fifth operational crew launch for NASA to date and the company’s eighth human spaceflight in just over two years. One of the people to fly with SpaceX on this latest mission is Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina.
Musk also boasted about the start of production of the years-delayed Tesla Semi, a heavy-duty all-electric truck, and promised that the company would deliver some of the trucks to Pepsi by Dec. 1.
The position was valued at about $160 million as of Wednesday’s close.
Tripadvisor shares have been flat since the start of the year after plummeting more than 30% in 2024. Last year, the travel review and booking company said it created a special committee to explore potential options.
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Starboard Value has gained a reputation for pushing for changes such as new CEOs and cost cuts by acquiring significant shares in companies.
People stand in front of an Apple store in Beijing, China, on April 9, 2025.
Tingshu Wang | Reuters
Apple iPhone sales in China rose in the second quarter of the year for the first time in two years, Counterpoint Research said, as the tech giant looks to turnaround its business in one of its most critical markets.
Sales of iPhones in China jumped 8% year-on-year in the three months to the end of June, according to Counterpoint Research. It’s the first time Apple has recorded growth in China since the second quarter of 2023.
Apple’s performance was boosted by promotions in May as Chinese e-commerce firms discounted Apple’s iPhone 16 models, its latest devices, Counterpoint said. The tech giant also increased trade-in prices for some iPhone.
“Apple’s adjustment of iPhone prices in May was well timed and well received, coming a week ahead of the 618 shopping festival,” Ethan Qi, associate director at Counterpoint said in a press release. The 618 shopping festival happens in China every June and e-commerce retailers offer heavy discounts.
Apple’s return to growth in China will be welcomed by investors who have seen the company’s stock fall around 15% this year as it faces a number of headwinds.
Since then, Huawei has aggressively launched devices in China and has even begun dipping its toe back into international markets. The Chinese tech giant has found success eating away at some of Apple’s market share in China.
Huawei’s sales rose 12% year-on-year in the second-quarter, according to Counterpoint. The firm was the biggest player in China by market share in the second quarter, followed by Vivo and then Apple in third place.
“Huawei is still riding high on core user loyalty as they replace their old phones for new Huawei releases,” Counterpoint Senior Analyst Ivan Lam said.
Chinese tech giant Baidu has bolstered its core search platform with artificial intelligence in the biggest overhaul of the product in 10 years.
Analysts told CNBC the move was a bid to keep ahead of fast-moving rivals like DeepSeek, rather than traditional search players.
“There has been some small pressure on the search business but the focus on AI and Ernie Bot is a key move ahead,” Dan Ives, global head of tech research at Wedbush Securities, told CNBC by email. Ernie Bot is Baidu’s AI chatbot.
“Baidu is not waiting around to watch the paint dry, full steam ahead on AI,” he added.
Baidu AI overhaul
Baidu is China’s biggest search engine, but — as is also being seen by Google — the search market is being disrupted.
Users are flocking instead to AI services such as ChatGPT or DeepSeek, which shocked the world this year with its advanced model it claimed was created at a fraction of the cost of rivals.
But Kai Wang, Asia equity market strategist at Morningstar, also noted that short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou are also getting into AI search and piling pressure on Baidu.
To counter this, Baidu made some major changes to its core search product:
Users can now enter more than a thousand characters in the search box, versus 28 previously;
Questions can be asked in a more direct and conversational manner, mirroring how people now use chatbots;
Users can ask questions through voice but also prompt the seach engine with pictures and files;
Baidu has integrated its AI chatbot features, which enable users to generate photos, text and videos, into the product.
“This is more aligned with how people use ChatGPT and DeepSeek in terms of how they look for answers,” Wang said.
Outside of China, Google has also been looking to enhance its core search product with AI, highlighting how search has been under pressure from the burgeoning technology.
Baidu on the offense
Baidu was one of China’s first movers when it came to AI, releasing its first models and ChatGPT-style product Ernie Bot to the public in 2023. Since then, it has aggressively launched updated AI models.
However, the Beijing-headquartered company has also faced intense competition from fellow tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent, as well as upstarts such as DeepSeek.
These companies have also been launching new models and infusing AI into their products and Baidu’s stock has fallen behind as a result. Baidu shares have risen around 2.5% this year, versus a 30.5% surge for Alibaba and a 20% rise for Tencent.
“This is a defensive and offensive move … Baidu needs to be aggressive and perception-wise show they are not the little brother to Tencent on the AI front,” Wedbush Securities’ Ives added.
