Connect with us

Published

on

Elon Musk listens as US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a House Republicans Conference meeting at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on November 13, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Allison Robbert | Getty Images

Tesla CEO Elon Musk lost his bid to get his 2018 CEO pay package reinstated on Monday when a Delaware judge upheld her prior ruling that the compensation plan was improperly granted.

The package, worth about $56 billion, was the largest compensation plan in U.S. history for a public company executive.

Musk attorneys attempted to sway the judge in the Delaware business court after the trial to reverse her opinion rescinding the CEO’s pay plan. Tesla had conducted a shareholder vote to “ratify” Musk’s 2018 pay plan at the EV maker’s annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, in June.

Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick wrote in her opinion on Monday that, “Even if a stockholder vote could have a ratifying effect, it could not do so here.” The judge approved a $345 million attorney fee award for the lawyers who successfully sued on behalf of Tesla shareholders in order to void the pay plan.

“We are pleased with Chancellor McCormick’s ruling, which declined Tesla’s invitation to inject continued uncertainty into Court proceedings and thank the Chancellor and her staff for their extraordinary hard work in overseeing this complex case,” attorneys from Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger & Grossmann, the firm representing the plaintiff, said in a statement.

Musk can appeal the decision to the Delaware Supreme Court.

Following McCormick’s decision in January to void the plan, Musk lashed out at the court, posting on X, “Never incorporate your company in the state of Delaware.” The company then held a shareholder vote to reincorporate in Texas, and officially shifted its incorporation there in June.

In response to Musk’s motion arguing that Tesla’s ratification vote for his pay package should lead her to reverse her prior opinion, Judge McCormick wrote, “Were the court to condone the practice of allowing defeated parties to create new facts for the purpose of revising judgments, lawsuits would become interminable.” 

Despite the setback, Musk has seen his net worth jump considerably in recent weeks. Excluding all of the options wrapped up in the pay package, Musk is more than $43 billion richer since Donald Trump’s election victory last month. Tesla shares have soared 42% in the four weeks since the election on optimism that Musk’s coziness with the incoming president will lead to policies favorable to his companies.  

The Tesla stock Musk still holds is worth close to $150 billion based on Monday’s closing price. That alone, not including his SpaceX stake, would put him among the world’s wealthiest people.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

WATCH: Elon Musk emerges as key voice in Trump’s tech policy

Elon Musk emerges as key voice in Trump's tech policy

Continue Reading

Technology

Teladoc shares tumble on wider-than-expected loss, disappointing revenue guidance

Published

on

By

Teladoc shares tumble on wider-than-expected loss, disappointing revenue guidance

Teladoc Health Inc. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 31, 2024.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Teladoc Health shares fell in extended trading on Wednesday after the company reported a wider loss than analysts expected and issued disappointing quarterly guidance.

Here’s how the company did, compared to analysts’ consensus estimates from LSEG:

  • Loss per share: 28 cents vs. 24 cents expected
  • Revenue: $640.5 million vs. $639.6 million expected

Revenue at the telehealth company decreased 3% in the fourth quarter from $660.5 million during the same period last year, according to a release. Teladoc’s net loss widened to $48.4 million, or 28 cents per share, from a loss of $28.9 million, or 17 cents per share, a year ago.

Teladoc is in the middle of a deep slump, with its stock price dropping in each of the past four years due to hefty competition in remote health, challenges at mental health division BetterHelp and high operating costs.

When Teladoc acquired digital health company Livongo in 2020, the companies had a combined enterprise value of $37 billion. Teladoc’s market cap was around $1.9 billion as of market close on Wednesday.

“As we look forward in 2025, execution will continue to be a top priority as we advance efforts to unlock growth opportunities and position the company for long term success,” Teladoc CEO Chuck Divita said in the statement. “We will also remain focused on our cost structure, building on the significant improvements achieved in 2024 over the prior year.”  

Teladoc reported adjusted earnings of $74.8 million in its fourth quarter, a 35% decrease from a year ago. Adjusted earnings for the company’s Integrated Care segment declined 5% to $53.2 million, and BetterHelp saw adjusted earnings drop 63% to $21.7 million.

For the first quarter, Teladoc said it expects revenue of between $608 million and $629 million, while analysts were expecting $632.9 million. The company said adjusted earnings will be between $47 million and $59 million for the period.

Earlier this month, Teladoc announced it will acquire preventative care company Catapult Health in an all-cash deal for $65 million. Teladoc said its outlook includes the anticipated contribution from the deal but not the effect of potential impairments or purchase accounting. Teladoc said the acquisition should close at the end of the month.

Teladoc will host its quarterly call with investors at 4:30 p.m. ET.

— CNBC’s Bertha Coombs contributed to this report.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Lightning Round: I can't play enterprise software, too much money being lost, says Jim Cramer

Continue Reading

Technology

Salesforce misses on revenue, issues disappointing guidance

Published

on

By

Salesforce misses on revenue, issues disappointing guidance

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff appears at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 23, 2025.

Halil Sagirkaya | Anadolu | Getty Images

Salesforce reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue on Wednesday and issued a forecast that fell short of analysts’ estimates. The stock price slipped 4% in extended trading.

Here’s how the company did compared with LSEG consensus:

  • Earnings per share: $2.78 adjusted vs. $2.61 expected
  • Revenue: $9.99 billion vs. $10.04 billion expected

Revenue increased 7.6% from a year ago in the quarter that ended Jan. 31, according to a statement. Net income rose to $1.71 billion, or $1.75 per share, from $1.45 billion, or $1.47 per share, a year earlier.

The top category of subscription and support revenue was service, at $2.33 billion. The figure was up about 8% and below the $2.37 billion consensus among analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha. In the sales category, Salesforce generated $2.13 billion in revenue, up 8% and also trailing Visible Alpha’s consensus of $2.17 billion.

During the quarter, the company introduced its second-generation Agentforce artificial intelligence agent technology, which answers employee questions in the Slack team communications app.

Salesforce said it has completed more than 3,000 paid deals involving Agentforce since October. Agentforce has gotten involved in 380,000 conversations through Salesforce’s help website, with humans getting involved in 2% of cases, according to the statement.

“A lot of other vendors are talking about their agent capabilities, but few are able to show that they’ve got this really running at scale,” co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff said on a conference call with analysts.

Agentforce will make a modest contribution to revenue in fiscal 2026, with a larger effect in the following year, said Amy Weaver, Salesforce’s outgoing finance chief.

Benioff referred to a forthcoming product in the area of information technology service management, where ServiceNow operates.

The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency is using Slack, Benioff said.

“We’ll work closely with the government,” he said. “We’ll do anything we can to help them succeed.”

The company called for $2.53 to $2.55 in adjusted earnings per share for the fiscal first quarter, with $9.71 billion to $9.76 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by LSEG had anticipated adjusted earnings of $2.61 per share, with $9.9 billion in revenue.

For fiscal 2026, Salesforce is targeting $11.09 to $11.17 in adjusted earnings per share on $40.5 billion to $40.9 billion in revenue, implying 7.4% growth. The LSEG consensus was for adjusted earnings per share of $11.18 on $41.35 billion in revenue.

As of Wednesday’s close, Salesforce shares are down about 8% so far in 2025, while the S&P 500 index has gained about 1%.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Salesforce, Microsoft executives spar over AI products

Continue Reading

Technology

Instacart suffers steepest drop on record after disappointing revenue, lackluster forecast

Published

on

By

Instacart suffers steepest drop on record after disappointing revenue, lackluster forecast

The Instacart logo is seen on a smartphone and on a PC screen.

Pavlo Gonchar | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Instacart‘s stock had its worst day on record, slumping 12% after the grocery delivery company posted a fourth-quarter revenue miss and offered light guidance for the current period.

Prior to Wednesday’s move, the stock’s biggest one-day slump came in November, when it dropped 11%.

Instacart reported fourth-quarter revenue of $883 million, falling short of the $891 million average analyst estimate, according to LSEG. The company said it anticipates adjusted earnings of between $220 million and $230 million for the first quarter, below a consensus forecast of $237.1 million.

Gross transaction value, which measures the value of products sold, will come in between $9 billion and $9.15 billion in the quarter, compared to a FactSet estimate of $9 billion. Instacart said it expects average order growth to decline due to restaurant orders and its $0 delivery fee on minimum $10 baskets.

When Instacart held its Nasdaq debut in September 2023, it became the first notable venture-backed company to go public in the U.S. in about two years, as the market adjusted to soaring inflation and rising interest rates.

The company, whose official corporate name is Maplebear, closed its first day on the market with a roughly $11 billion market cap, down from its $39 billion private market valuation in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The stock peaked at $53.15 on Feb. 19 after rallying 76% last year. It closed on Wednesday at $42.80.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

Instacart CEO: We are using AI to help shoppers navigate food decisions

Continue Reading

Trending