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Tesla stock slips after it reports 462,890 total deliveries during the third quarter

Tesla posted its third-quarter vehicle production and deliveries report on Wednesday. The stock fell as much as 3.7% after the report.

Here are the key numbers:

Total deliveries Q3 2024: 462,890

Total production Q3 2024: 469,796

Analysts were expecting deliveries of 463,310 in the period ended Sept. 30, according to estimates compiled by FactSet StreetAccount.

Deliveries are not defined in Tesla’s financial disclosures, but are the closest approximation to units sold reported by the company. It’s one of the most closely watched metrics on Wall Street.

In the year-ago period, Tesla reported 435,059 deliveries and production of 430,488 EVs. Last quarter, the company reported 443,956 deliveries, and production of 410,831 vehicles.

Tesla is facing increased competitive pressure, especially in China, from companies like BYD and Geely, along with a new generation of automakers, including Li Auto and Nio.

A worker unloads a new Tesla Model 3 from a truck at a logistics drop zone in Seattle, Washington, US, on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. 

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

In the U.S., EV competitors like Rivian are maturing, while legacy automakers Ford and General Motors are selling more electric vehicles after walking back more ambitious goals for electrification.

GM this week reported a roughly 60% increase in EV sales for the third quarter from a year earlier. Still, its electric business is tiny compared with Tesla’s, with just 32,100 units sold in the latest period, accounting for 4.9% of the company’s total sales.

Ford plans to report results on Wednesday.

Tesla hasn’t issued specific guidance for 2024 deliveries, but executives have said they expect a lower delivery growth rate this year versus last despite the company having added a new vehicle, the angular stainless steel Cybertruck, to its lineup.

The company also said on Wednesday that it deployed 6.9 GWh of energy storage products in the quarter.

Shares of Tesla climbed 32% in the third quarter, erasing their loss for the year in the process. The stock is now up almost 4% in 2024, trailing the Nasdaq, which has gained 19%.

Tesla’s brand has been under pressure in the U.S. due in part to the antics of CEO Elon Musk, who, in addition to endorsing former President Donald Trump, has shared what the White House called “racist hate,” and false claims about immigrants and election fraud on X, his social media app.

But Tesla still sells more battery electric vehicles in the U.S. than any other automaker, with Hyundai a distant second.

In its third-quarter earnings report later this month, investors will be particularly focused on profit margins.

Tesla has continued to offer attractive financing options and an array of incentives to drive sales volume in recent months in China as well as in the U.S. Prior to earnings, Tesla will host a marketing event on Oct. 10, and is expected to show off the design of a “dedicated robotaxi.”

Musk has promised Tesla self-driving cars for years, but the company has yet to deliver. Meanwhile competitors like Waymo and Pony.ai have begun operating commercial robotaxi services.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the day of the stock move.

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OpenAI’s shakeup plan gets SoftBank’s nod — all eyes now on Microsoft

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OpenAI's shakeup plan gets SoftBank's nod — all eyes now on Microsoft

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks next to SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son after U.S. President Donald Trump delivered remarks on AI infrastructure at the Roosevelt Room in the White House in Washington on Jan. 21, 2025.

Carlos Barria | Reuters

OpenAI said last week that it would restructure in a format that allows its non-profit entity to retain ultimate control, a plan that on Tuesday received the blessing of one of the U.S. artificial intelligence startup’s biggest backers — Japanese giant SoftBank.

The endorsement of SoftBank — the first time the company has publicly green lit the plan — is key because the Japanese firm’s $30 billion investment in OpenAI announced this year was contingent on a change in structure.

In March, OpenAI closed a $40 billion funding round, receiving $30 billion from SoftBank. But if OpenAI doesn’t restructure into a for-profit entity by Dec. 31, SoftBank has previously said it could reduce its portion of the financing to $20 billion.

OpenAI announced this month that it would not fully turn into a for-profit entity after pressure from civic leaders and former employees. Instead, the non-profit arm would retain control of the company, while the limited liability company, which handles all of the business operations, would turn into a public benefit corporation. That means this division will have the ability to generate profit, but will also focus on social good.

The AI startup was originally looking to remove the control of the non-profit, a plan that drew criticism from many in the tech space, including rival and initial OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk.

Since the non-profit would retain control, and the original restructure plan was ditched, it was unclear if OpenAI’s major investors were on board.

But SoftBank’s finance chief Yoshimitsu Goto said during an earnings press conference on Tuesday that “nothing has really changed.”

“I don’t think that’s the wrong direction … that’s something that we expected,” Goto said, according to a company translation of his comments in Japanese.

He reiterated that OpenAI needs to complete the restructure by the end of this year.

There could still be stumbling blocks along the way. Microsoft, one of OpenAI’s biggest investors, has not approved the restructure, according to a Bloomberg report earlier this month. The Financial Times on Sunday reported that OpenAI and Microsoft are rewriting the terms of their multibillion-dollar partnership. Microsoft is the key holdout to OpenAI’s restructure plan, the FT added.

SoftBank’s Goto did not mention any other companies, but acknowledged that OpenAI has many stakeholders.

“Our conversation is based on the assumption that the reorganization will take place. There are different staekholders however and some people may intervene in this project and this may not go as smooth as we hope,” Goto said.

“But that’s out of our control. We will wait and see what happens.”

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Dubai government to accept crypto payments through Crypto.com partnership

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Dubai government to accept crypto payments through Crypto.com partnership

Crypto.com logo displayed on a phone screen with representation of cryptocurrencies.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Dubai’s Department of Finance announced a partnership with crypto platform Crypto.com that will allow government service fees to be paid with cryptocurrencies.

The memorandum of understanding between Dubai government officials and Mohammed Al Hakim, president of Crypto.com UAE, was signed Monday on the sidelines of the Dubai FinTech Summit.

Government officials said in a press release that the partnership will help achieve the “Dubai Cashless Strategy,” which seeks to solidify Dubai’s status as a leading digital city. The strategy aims to reach 90% cashless transactions across Dubai’s public and private sectors by 2026.

Once technical arrangements for the initiative are finalized, individuals and “businesses customers of government entities” will be able to pay service fees through digital wallets on Crypto.com.  

“The platform will securely convert these payments into Emirati dirhams and transfer them to Dubai Finance accounts, ensuring a streamlined, secure, and innovative payment framework,” Dubai Finance added. 

Bitcoin retreats as U.S. and China agree to pause some tariffs: CNBC Crypto World

Crypto.com’s Al Hakim called the initiative a “truly global first programme.” However, the announcement did not clarify what types of digital currencies the department of finance would accept, or for which types of government fees covered by the agreement. 

Crypto.com and Dubai Finance did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC. 

Crypto.com first received a license for its Dubai entity to offer regulated virtual asset service activities in 2023. Last month, the company said Dubai’s virtual asset regulatory body had also issued a limited license to offer derivatives.

Dubai has been betting on the crypto industry for years as part of its ambition to become a global tech hub. 

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SoftBank Vision Funds swing to annual loss as investment gains slow by 40%

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SoftBank Vision Funds swing to annual loss as investment gains slow by 40%

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son delivers remarks next to U.S. President Donald Trump at an ‘Investing in America’ event in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 30, 2025.

Leah Millis | Reuters

Softbank‘s Vision Fund business on Tuesday posted a loss in the fiscal year ended March as it booked slowing gains at its massive tech investment arm.

SoftBank said it notched a gain on investment at its Vision Funds of 434.9 billion yen in the fiscal year, a 40% fall from the 724.3 billion yen booked in the previous year.

In its fiscal fourth quarter — the three months ended March — SoftBank’s Vision Funds segment recorded a 26.1 billion yen gain, helped by a rise in the value of TikTok owner ByteDance.

The Vision Fund segment overall logged a pretax loss of 115.02 billion yen ($777.7 mllion) versus a profit of 128.2 billion yen in the previous fiscal year.

For the latest fiscal year, SoftBank saw gains on its investments in Chinese ridehailing company Didi as well as South Korean e-commerce firm Coupang. However, the performance of its investment arm was hurt by a drop in value of companies including AutoStore.

The Vision Funds are a key focus for investors who are looking for signs of improvement at SoftBank’s huge investment arm, after it swung to a surprise loss in the company’s fiscal third quarter.

SoftBank’s investment division can be inconsistent, as it is driven by changes in public and private financial markets.

SoftBank’s stock is down about 17% this year as volatility in financial markets and concerns about the macroeconomic environment continues to weigh on the company.

SoftBank hits back at Stargate funding report

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has sought to position company as a key player in artificial intelligence through various investments and acquisitions. The firm owns the majority of semiconductor designer Arm and announced plans this year to acquire server chip designer Ampere Computing for $6.5 billion. Ampere’s semiconductors are designed to run AI applications.

One of SoftBank’s biggest AI bets has been on OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. SoftBank invested $30 billion in OpenAI as part of a broader $40 billion financing round in March that valued the startup at $300 billion.

Softbank is also involved in Stargate, a joint venture that was unveiled by U.S. President Donald Trump in January, calling for hundreds of billions of dollars of investment into AI infrastructure.

There are still questions about how SoftBank plans to finance these ventures and whether it will need to sell down some of its holdings in companies like Arm.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg had on Monday reported that dozens of financial players are reassessing investment in data centers due to growing economic volatility, and SoftBank has yet to come up with a financing template for Stargate.

Yoshimitsu Goto, chief finance officer at SoftBank, said during a Tuesday press conference that media reports of banks hesitating to fund SoftBank’s efforts are not true.

“We are very much making progress,” Goto said.

He added there are around 100 proposals being made for sites to build data centers as part of Stargate, with the first facilities likely to be in Texas.

SoftBank swings to profit

SoftBank posted its first annual profit in four years at 1.15 trillion yen.

While the Vision Fund was an overall drag on profit, it was a big gain in SoftBank’s older investments in Alibaba, T-Mobile and Deutsche Telekom, that helped drive its overall profit.

Arm and SoftBank’s telecommunications business also contributed positively to the group’s overall profitability.

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