The UAW union’s Stellantis Council met yesterday to discuss the beleaguered carmaker’s “ongoing failure” to honor the agreement that ended the 2023 labor strike, and their latest union memo doesn’t pull many punches.
It’s not a great time to be Stellantis. Its dealers are suing leadership and threatening to oust the company’s controversial CEO, Carlos Tavares, as sales continue to crater in North America, it can’t move its new, high-profile electric Fiat, and it’s first luxury electric Jeep isn’t ready. And now, things are about to get bad.
In an email sent out by the UAW earlier today (received at 4:55PM CST), UAW President Shawn Fain wrote, “For years, the company picked us off plant-by-plant and we lacked the will and the means to fight back. Today is different. Because we stood together and demanded the right to strike over job security—product commitment—we have the tools to fight back and win … We unanimously recommend to the membership that every UAW worker at Stellantis prepare for a fight, and we all get ready to vote YES to authorize a strike at Stellantis.”
The dispute seems to stem from Stellantis’ inability to commit to new product (and continued employment) at its UAW-run plants and other failings to meet its strike-ending obligations. This, despite a €3 billion stock buyback executed in late 2023.
I’ve included the memo, in its entirety, below. Take a look for yourself, and let us know what you think of the UAW’s call for action in the comments.
UAW memo
SOURCE: UAW, via email.
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According to a previous Forbes report, Zhao and Binance collectively hold 71% of the roughly 146 million BNB tokens in circulation.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, at the Hope Global Forums annual meeting in Atlanta on Dec. 11, 2023.
Dustin Chambers | Bloomberg | Getty Images
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, expects about $5 billion in losses on $3.7 billion in revenue this year, CNBC has confirmed.
The company generated $300 million in revenue last month, up 1,700% since the beginning of last year, and expects to bring in $11.6 billion in sales next year, according to a person close to OpenAI who asked not to be named because the numbers are confidential.
The New York Times was first to report on OpenAI’s financials earlier on Friday after viewing company documents. CNBC hasn’t seen the financials.
OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft, is currently pursuing a funding round that would value the company at more than $150 billion, people familiar with the matter have told CNBC. Thrive Capital is leading the round and plans to invest $1 billion, with Tiger Global planning to join as well.
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told investors in an email Thursday that the funding round is oversubscribed and will close by next week. Her note followed a number of key departures, most notably technology chief Mira Murati, who announced the previous day that she was leaving OpenAI after six and a half years.
Also this week, news surfaced that OpenAI’s board is considering plans to restructure the firm to a for-profit business. The company will retain its nonprofit segment as a separate entity, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. The structure would be more straightforward for investors and make it easier for OpenAI employees to realize liquidity, the source said.
OpenAI’s services have exploded in popularity since the company launched ChatGPT in late 2022. The company sells subscriptions to various tools and licenses its GPT family of large language models, which are powering much of the generative AI boom. Running those models requires a massive investment in Nvidia’s graphics processing units.
The Times, citing an analysis by a financial professional who reviewed OpenAI’s documents, reported that the roughly $5 billion in loses this year are tied to costs for running its services as well as employee salaries and office rent. The costs don’t include equity-based compensation, “among several large expenses not fully explained in the documents,” the paper said.
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