Drivers charge their Teslas in Fountain Valley, CA, on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.
Jeff Gritchen | Medianews Group | Getty Images
Tesla said on Friday that it’s cutting the subscription price of its premium driver assistance system for customers in the U.S.
Marketed as its Full Self-Driving, or FSD, package, Tesla customers will now pay $99 per month, down from $199 previously.
The price cut is at odds with previous promises from CEO Elon Musk, who has repeatedly said that the cost of FSD would only go up as Tesla adds features and functionality to the system.
“The FSD price will continue to rise as the software gets closer to full self-driving capability with regulatory approval,” Musk wrote on Twitter, now known as X, on May 18, 2020. He said at that point “the value of FSD is probably somewhere in excess of $100,000” per car.
Despite its brand name, the company’s FSD option today doesn’t make Tesla vehicles autonomous or functional as robotaxis.
Musk has promised shareholders and customers a robotaxi for years, and has said their existing vehicles would soon become self driving after an over-the-air software update.
He told investors on a call in 2019 that autonomous driving would transform Tesla into a company with a $500 billion market cap, up from around $42 billion at that time. (The company is worth over $500 billion today even without having developed an autonomous car.) Tesla raised over $2 billion through debt and equity after the call.
In a notice that’s now shown to some drivers through the touchscreen displays in their cars, Tesla says:
“Full Self-Driving (Supervised) can drive your Tesla almost anywhere. It will make lane changes, select forks to follow your navigation route, navigate around other vehicles and objects, and make left and right turns. It must be used with additional caution and an attentive driver. It does not make your vehicle autonomous. Do not become complacent.”
The company uses sensors in the steering wheel and cabin cameras, positioned above the rearview mirror, to determine if a driver is attentive or not, and will audibly alert drivers to keep their eyes on the road or hands on the wheel.
In 2022, the California Department of Motor Vehicles formally accused Tesla of engaging in deceptive practices around the marketing of its driver assistance systems, including its standard package Autopilot and FSD in the U.S., according to filings with a state administrative agency.
Meanwhile, Alphabet-owned Waymo is now operating commercial robotaxi services in several U.S. cities. The company also recently struck a partnership with Uber Eats for driverless food delivery. In China, Didi’s autonomous unit operates commercially in markets including Guangzhou. Companies including Bill Gates-backed Wayve in the U.K. and Amazon’s Zoox in the U.S. are testing robotaxis as well.
In a push for end-of-quarter sales last month, Musk mandated that all sales and service staff install and demo FSD for customers before handing over the keys. He wrote in an email to employees, “Almost no one actually realizes how well (supervised) FSD actually works. I know this will slow down the delivery process, but it is nonetheless a hard requirement.”
After that, Tesla also announced it would give away a one-month free trial of FSD to all customers in North America. Owners’ responses to the latest version of FSD have been mixed with some fans impressed, and many safety-conscious drivers switching off the free FSD trial, viewing it as inconsistent and unsafe.
Musk also recently promised to “unveil” a new dedicated robotaxi on Aug. 8. Tesla unveilings are marketing events, and don’t indicate a date for the start of production and deliveries. For example, Tesla unveiled a new version of the Roadster, and a fully electric heavy-duty truck called the Semi in 2017 and didn’t begin Semi deliveries until December 2022. It still hasn’t produced the new version of the Roadster.
Tesla didn’t respond to a request for more information, including whether the price cut announced Friday is permanent or temporary.
Oracle shares snapped a seven-day win streak and notched their worst day since January, as the company’s earnings left traders questioning the company’s AI investments.
But as AI stocks faltered, investors put money to work in more cyclical names like financial institutions and insurance providers.
This morning, shares of Broadcom are down nearly 6% before the bell despite the company beating expectations on both lines yesterday.
The semiconductor company told investors that it expects its current-quarter AI chip sales to double from a year ago. It also revealed that its mystery $10 billion customer was Anthropic.
Hundreds of miles from Wall Street, President Donald Trump last night signed an executive order establishing a single national regulation standard for AI that curbs states’ regulatory power.
A customer shops in a Lululemon store on April 03, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
Another day, another CEO departure: Lululemon announced yesterday that CEO Calvin McDonald will step down at the end of January. He will be replaced in the interim by two executives while the Canadian retailer searches for a permanent successor.
Lululemon reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter, but, as CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge notes, the company has been underperforming for more than a year. Shares of the athleisure retailer are up more than 9% this morning.
Costco also surpassed Wall Street’s forecasts for its first quarter, boosted in part by e-commerce growth. The warehouse club said Black Friday was a record-breaking day for its digital business.
3. Wish upon a bot
Disney CEO Bob Iger and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appearing on CNBC on Dec. 11th, 2025.
CNBC
Mickey Mouse, meet ChatGPT. Disney announced a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI yesterday. Under the agreement, users on OpenAI’s Sora video platform will be able to make content that features the entertainment giant’s copyrighted material — including more than 200 characters across the Disney universe.
Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC that the deal gives the company “a way in” to AI and will help it further reach younger consumers. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said there will be limits on how Disney characters can be used in Sora videos.
Yesterday also marked OpenAI’s 10th anniversary. CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos takes you through the company’s transformation from a small, nonprofit research lab to the booming business it is today.
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4. Tanking plans
A satellite image shows the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Skipper, which British maritime risk management group Vanguard said was believed to have been seized on December 10, as well as another vessel, off Port Jose, Venezuela, November 18, 2025.
Planet Labs | Reuters
After the U.S. seized a tanker off Venezuela’s coast, a White House official told CNBC yesterday that Trump is willing to do it again. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also said that the tanker will be taken to a U.S. port where the oil it carried will be seized.
CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco found that the tanker in question, identified as the “Skipper,” had hid its location on multiple occasions since last year. Data suggests it has carried sanctioned oil from Iran and Venezuela since 2022.
Data shows 22% of consumers listed high fiber content as a top-three factor when shopping, compared with 17% four years ago. On social media, the kids are calling it “fibermaxxing.”
As a result, companies such as Coca-Cola and Nestlé are rolling out fiber-focused drinks, CNBC’s Laya Neelakandan reports. PepsiCo also told CNBC that it’s planning to launch high-fiber versions of Smartfood and SunChips next year.
The Daily Dividend
Here are some stories we’d recommend making time for this weekend:
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Jordan Novet, Tasmin Lockwood, Jennifer Elias, Kif Leswing, MacKenzie Sigalos, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Melissa Repko, Ashley Capoot, Kevin Breuninger, Spencer Kimball, Lori Ann LaRocco, Justin Papp, Eamon Javers andLaya Neelakandancontributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.
U.S. artificial intelligence names were in negative territory in premarket trading on Friday, extending losses into their third day.
Oracle was 0.9% lower in premarket trading, paring earlier losses which saw it fall 1.3%. Nvidia shed 0.7%, Micron fell 0.9%, and CoreWeave was down 1.3% at 5:16 a.m. ET.
The share price of cloud computing and database software maker Oracle plummeted on Thursday, ending the session around 11% lighter after revenue earnings missed analyst expectations on Wednesday.
It dragged other AI-related names down with it despite a record-breaking rally elsewhere on Wall Street, suggesting investors are rotating out of tech into other parts of the market.
Despite booming demand for Oracle’s artificial intelligence infrastructure, it posted mixed results this week. Revenue came in at $16.06 billion, compared with $16.21 billion expected by analysts, according to data compiled by LSEG.
It followed widespread speculation around the long-term health of the company, with investors cautious about its reliance on debt to execute its AI infrastructure build-out. The broader industry’s circular dealmaking has also raised eyebrows.
“We think recent investor scrutiny on artificial intelligence’s potential and circular GPU deals can be overly punitive to key AI suppliers like Oracle,” said Morningstar Equity Analyst Luke Yang. “Oracle remains a respectable cloud provider that enjoys strong switching costs across its database, application, and infrastructure lineup.”
That said, the firm reduced its fair value estimate for wide-moat Oracle to $286 per share, down from $340. Morningstar’s moat rating refers to its assessment of a company’s durable competitive advantage.
“We lowered our long-term earnings outlook as delivering Oracle’s planned capacity on time now proved to be a harder task. However, we continue to view shares as undervalued,” Yang added.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 11, 2025, in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced on Thursday, with both hitting fresh closing records. The Russell 2000 index also ended the session at a new high, following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s quarter-point cut on Wednesday.
But if investors analyze Thursday’s individual stock movements, they will see not all is well with the AI play yet. Oracle shares plunged nearly 11%, a day after it reported weak quarterly revenue, higher capital expenditure and long-term lease commitments. Oracle’s slide dragged down AI-related names such as Nvidia and Micron.
In extended trading, Broadcom shares fell 4.5%. The chipmaker beat Wall Street’s expectations for earnings and revenue, but CEO Hock Tan appeared to have failed to address worries that their largest customer, Google, might eventually make more of its chips in-house. Rising memory prices would also pressure margins, while the company’s chip deal with OpenAI might not be binding.
That’s why the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.26% despite other major U.S. indexes hitting records. Putting the two together, that means investors are rotating out of tech into other parts of the market. The S&P 500 financials sector, for instance, closed at a fresh record, buoyed by jumps in Visa and Mastercard.
Even though the AI theme seems to be under scrutiny, other sectors are performing well on the back of a resilient U.S. economy — as signaled by Fed officials on Wednesday — and buoyed by interest-rate cut. So long as nothing throws a spanner in the works, looks like we’re all set for a happy holiday season.
— CNBC’s Kristina Partsinevelos contributed to this report.
Disney to invest $1 billion in OpenAI. The media giant will also allow Sora, OpenAI’s video generator, to use its copyrighted characters, under a $1 billion licensing agreement. “We think this is a good investment for the company,” Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC.
Reddit launches legal challenge in Australia. The county introduced a ban on social media for teens under 16, which came into effect on Wednesday. Reddit argues that the law is “invalid on the basis of the implied freedom of political communication.”
[PRO] Where will Oracle go from here? Analysts are re-looking their price targets for Oracle stock after the firm released a disappointing and confusing earnings report on Wednesday.
And finally…
Gen. David Petraeus, Former CIA Director, Fmr. Central Commander and American commander in Iraq.
White House’s new national security strategy gave Europe a scare last week as it warned the region faced “civilizational erasure” and questioned whether it could remain a geopolitical partner for America.
The strategy was, “in a way, going after the Europeans but, frankly, some of the Europeans needed to be gotten after because I watched as four different presidents tried to exhort the Europeans to do more for their own defense and now that’s actually happening,” David Petraeus, former CIA director and four-star U.S. Army general, told CNBC’s Dan Murphy in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.