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Steve Wozniak, co-founder of the technology company Apple.

Thomas Banneyer | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

BARCELONA — Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak criticized the “sledgehammer” approach Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has taken to cut administrative costs and implement mass firings at federal government agencies.

The Department of Government Efficiency — or “DOGE,” for short — is an initiative President Donald Trump set up to optimize the federal government and cut its administrative spending.

“I definitely think that we should look for inefficiencies in government, but pretty much have a huge department that analyzes bit by bit by bit,” Wozniak told CNBC on the sidelines of a tech conference on Tuesday.

But he added, “Just mass firings … it’s not good for a business to run that way,” referring to DOGE’s deep cuts to jobs at several government agencies.”It’s really to find out what works and what doesn’t, make the changes.”

He noted that, though addressing administrative burdens and red tape in government can be a good thing, it’s a process that should be done “more surgically, with a scalpel instead of a sledgehammer.”

‘Bullying’

Wozniak also accused Trump and Musk of “bullying” over the U.S.’ treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Department of Government Efficiency’s mass firings at federal government agencies.

“Elon Musk, I don’t know what got into his head,” Wozniak added. “Sometimes you get so rich at these big companies, and you’re on top — it goes to your head, and you’re the most incredible person in the world and the brightest and you’re going to dictate what others will will do.”

CNBC has reached out to the White House and to Tesla for comment.

Wozniak, who says he has Ukrainian heritage, said that Trump and Musk have mistreated Ukraine and accused them both of being bullies.

“Bullying is the best way to think of it,” he told CNBC. “If you’re in school, the bully is going to force their way on the little guy.”

He noted, “I’ve always favored the little guy over the big guy, and I’ve always favored the consumer of a good over the producer,” he added, in an apparent reference Musk’s electric car firm Tesla.

U.S. relations with Ukraine have soured since Trump took office. American officials have re-established relations with their Russian counterparts — but excluded Ukraine from preliminary talks laying the groundwork for peace. Tensions between Washington and Kyiv recently escalated after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Trump as “living in a Russian disinformation bubble.”

Trump then hit back, calling Ukraine’s leader a “dictator without elections.” Zelenskyy won the 2019 presidential vote Ukraine, which has been unable to hold national polls since its invasion.

‘On the wrong side of Elon’

Wozniak said he also suspects he’s been banned from X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter after several public rants about the quality of Tesla’s vehicles in TV interviews. Musk is the owner of X.

The Apple co-founder said he had not violated any of the social media platform’s rules and has unsuccessfully taken every step to unfreeze his account, which he says has been blocked for the past two to three months.

“Maybe it’s because I was on the wrong side of Elon,” he added.

X was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Wozniak owns several Teslas but says he isn’t a fan of how Musk’s electric vehicles have evolved over time.

“Every step up where they changed things in the car, it got worse and worse and worse, and now it is just miserable for user interface,” he said. “Coming from Apple, user interface, the way you deal with technology, is the most important thing in the world to me. And Tesla is the worst in the world at that.”

Wozniak added that he doesn’t like Tesla’s Full Self Driving or Autopilot driver assistance features, due to concerns over the safety of the systems.

Tesla did not immediately return a CNBC request for comment on Wozniak’s criticisms of the company.

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Doordash announces $1.2 billion SevenRooms deal, misses revenue expectations

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Doordash announces .2 billion SevenRooms deal, misses revenue expectations

A DoorDash sign is pictured on a restaurant on the day they hold their IPO in New York, December 9, 2020.

Carlo Allegri | Reuters

Doordash on Tuesday announced the $1.2 billion acquisition of restaurant booking platform SevenRooms and reported first-quarter revenue that missed expectations.

Shares fell about 4% following the news.

Here’s how the company did, based on LSEG expectations:

  • Earnings per share: 44 cents adjusted vs. 39 cents expected
  • Revenue: $3.03 billion vs. $3.09 billion expected

Doordash said the all-cash acquisition of SevenRooms, a New York City-based data platform for restaurants and hotels to manage booking information, will close in the second half of 2025.

British food delivery service Deliveroo said Tuesday that they have agreed to a takeover offer from American rival Doordash worth $3.9 billion.

“We believe both SevenRooms and Deliveroo will expand our ability to build world class services that increase our potential to grow local commerce and support our financial goals,” Doordash said in a release.

Doordash reported total orders of 732 million for the quarter, an 18% increase over the same period a year ago. Analysts polled by StreetAccount expected 732.7 million.

The company said it expects second-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $600 million to $650 million. Analysts polled by StreetAccount expected $639 million.

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“So far in 2025, consumer demand on our marketplaces has remained strong, with engagement across different consumer cohorts and types that we believe is consistent with typical seasonal patterns,” the company said.

Doordash reported $193 million in net income for Q1 2025, or 44 cents per share. The company had a net loss of $23 million, or a net loss of 6 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Doordash noted growth in the grocery delivery category, citing “accelerating average spend per grocery consumer and increasing average spend on perishables.”

The company did not mention tariffs as a factor in the financial outlook, but did note that an increased international presence leaves it open to “geopolitical and currency risks.”

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DoorDash to buy British food delivery firm Deliveroo for $3.9 billion in overseas push

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DoorDash to buy British food delivery firm Deliveroo for .9 billion in overseas push

A Deliveroo rider near Victoria station in London, England, on March 31, 2021.

Dan Kitwood | Getty Images

LONDON — British food delivery firm Deliveroo on Monday said it has agreed to a takeover offer from American rival DoorDash that values the company at £2.9 billion ($3.9 billion).

Deliveroo, which lets users order hot meals and groceries via an app, said its board agreed to an offer from DoorDash to acquire all issued and to be issued shares in the company for 180 pence a share.

That marks a 44% premium to Deliveroo’s closing price on April 4, the last business day prior to DoorDash’s initial offer letter.

Deliveroo shares jumped to a three-year high last week after the company confirmed it had received a takeover offer from DoorDash.

The transaction values Deliveroo at £2.9 billion on a fully diluted basis, the company said.

DoorDash said that the financial terms of the acquisition were final and would not be increased unless a third party steps in with a rival bid.

“I could not be more excited by the prospect of what DoorDash and Deliveroo will be able to accomplish together. We’ll cover more than 40 countries with a combined population of more than 1 billion people, enabling us to provide more local businesses with the tools and technology they need to thrive,” said Tony Xu, CEO and Co-founder of DoorDash.

International expansion

The acquisition deal marks an end to Deliveroo’s tumultuous ride as a public company.

Once viewed as a British tech darling, Deliveroo saw its shares tank 30% in 2021 in one of the worst trading debuts on the London Stock Exchange. Shares have continued to fall from that point and are down more than 50% from the firm’s £3.90 IPO price.

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Temu and Shein face massive tariffs. But don’t count them out of the U.S. e-tail scene, experts say

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Temu and Shein face massive tariffs. But don't count them out of the U.S. e-tail scene, experts say

Photo illustration of the Shein app on the App Store reflected in the Temu logo.

Stefani Reynolds | Afp | Getty Images

The closure of a trade loophole and prohibitive tariffs on China have upended Temu and Shein’s business model in the United States. And yet the e-commerce companies are likely to remain a dominant force in American online retailing, experts suggest.  

On Friday, the de minimis rule — a policy that had exempted U.S. imports worth $800 from trade tariffs — officially closed for shipments from China. This has seen Temu and Shein exposed to duties as high as 120% or a flat fee of $100, set to rise to $200 in June.

The small-package tariff exemption had been key to the companies’ ability to maintain budget prices on the merchandise they ship from China. Now that it’s gone, prices on Temu and Shein have been surging, with the former ending direct shipments from outside the U.S. altogether. 

The change will be welcomed by many detractors of de minimis, among them U.S. lawmakers, labor unions and retailers, who have argued that Temu and Shein abused the exemption to undercut local businesses and flood the country with illicit and counterfeit products. 

But despite the new trade challenges that Temu and Shein face, ecommerce and supply chain experts told CNBC that the companies are still capable of competing with their rivals in the U.S. 

“Don’t count them out … Not at all. These kinds of Chinese e-commerce apps are very adept and agile. They have contingency plans in place and have taken the necessary steps to cover the tariffs from a margin perspective,” said Deborah Weinswig, CEO and founder of Coresight Research.

“I personally believe, if anything, [America’s e-commerce] game has been accelerating in favor of Temu and Shein … I wouldn’t be surprised if the competitiveness gap actually continues to widen,” added Weinswig, whose research and advisory firm works with clients across tech, retail and supply chains.

Contingencies in place 

The loss of the de minimis exemption had long been anticipated, with U.S. President Donald Trump temporarily closing it in February. In preparation, Temu and Shein had been accelerating localization strategies for the U.S.

Scott Miller, CEO of e-commerce consulting firm pdPlus, told CNBC that Shein and Temu will continue to onboard goods from American sellers onto their apps to protect them from tariffs. 

“Many of the current sellers on Temu and Shein are located in China or countries nearby, but not all. Local U.S. companies have been joining these platforms at an accelerating pace … several of our clients have onboarded or began the process of onboarding in just the past few months,” he said. 

While margins for more localized brands and other sellers won’t be as high as those for China-based sellers on the platforms, they can be competitive, he said. 

He added that in the case of Temu, vendors are attracted to lower fees, lighter competition and greater assistance with onboarding and setting up sales channels compared with what Amazon offers. 

Temu, Shein raising prices ahead of Trump administration ending 'de minimis' rule: Report

In recent days, Temu, which is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, has begun exclusively offering goods shipped from local warehouses to U.S. shoppers.

Many of those goods are still sourced from China but then shipped in bulk to U.S. warehouses, according to experts. While these bulk items are subject to tariffs, they also benefit from economies of scale. 

This development is likely to see the variety of products on Temu scaled back, said Henry Jin, an associate professor of supply chain management at Miami University. However, he added, Temu is likely to resume direct shipments from China, depending on the outcome of the trade war between the U.S. and China. 

Shein, meanwhile, has leaned into supply chain expansion, building manufacturing operations in countries such as Turkey, Mexico and Brazil, and reportedly plans to shift to Vietnam.

The company appears to still be shipping directly from China and likely has more room to absorb tariffs because of its “sky-high” margins in its core fast-fashion business, Jin said.

“If there’s one thing that Chinese companies are good at, it’s operating on a razor thin margin in an intensely competitive, if not adverse environment … they find every scrap that they can to survive,” he added.

Competitive prices?

Contingency plans aside, experts agree that Trump’s trade policy will continue to affect prices on Temu and Shein. The companies first announced they were raising prices in mid-April to counter tariffs.

According to data from Coresight, prices across shopping categories on Shein rose between 5% and 50% in the latter half of April, with the sharpest rises seen in toys and games and beauty and health. 

However, many e-commerce experts remain confident that Temu and Shein will continue to prove price-competitive. 

Coresight’s Weinswig said the two companies have previously been able to offer products at a third of the prices on Amazon for comparable goods. So, even if they more than double the prices to absorb the impacts of tariffs, many goods could remain cheaper than those on American e-commerce sites and retailers. 

Jason Wong, who works in product logistics for Temu in Hong Kong, noted this dynamic when speaking to CNBC last month, likening Temu to a dollar store. If prices at the dollar store go from $1 to $2, it’s still a dollar store, he said. 

Furthermore, Trump’s trade tariffs on China and other trade partners have also affected American retailers and e-commerce sites like Amazon. 

Other advantages

When Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year, it blamed Shein and Temu’s use of the de minimis exemption, which it said “undercut” its business. 

But experts say that exclusively attributing the success of Shein and Temu to that trade loophole misses many of the other factors that have made them smash hits in the U.S.

According to Anand Kumar, associate director of research at Coresight Research, Temu and Shein owe a lot of their success to their very agile supply chains that adapt fast to consumer trends. 

For example, Shein’s small-batch production — in which product styles are initially launched in limited quantities, typically around 100-200 items — allows it to test and scale products efficiently. 

Shein's Donald Tang: We are not fast fashion but fashion on-demand

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