Category Archives: Elon Musk

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk has never been one to hold back his opinions, even when it comes to legendary investor and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. founder Warren Buffett.

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In a candid 2020 interview with The New York Times, Musk didnt mince words when he discussed Buffetts image. He has managed to create a great image for himself as a kindly grandfather, which is maybe overstating the case, Musk said.

Of course, Buffett is known for his folksy charm, humble lifestyle and long-term investment approach, which has made him a beloved figure among many investors. His philanthropic efforts have made him one of the most generous donors in history. But to Musk, the 92-year-old Oracle of Omaha might be a bit overrated.

Despite his grandfatherly demeanor, Buffett is no pushover in the business world. Hes made his fortune by being a savvy and sometimes ruthless investor. During the financial crisis, he lent money to struggling companies like Goldman Sachs and General Electric Co. at interest rates that some critics deemed usurious.

It wasnt the first time Musk criticized Buffett. In 2018, Musk dismissed Buffetts famous idea of economic moats as lame. The comment caused a huge stir in the business world. After all, Buffett is known for investing in companies with strong competitive advantages that help keep rivals at bay. These advantages are often referred to as economic moats. Buffett obviously doesnt think moats are lame because he has made a fortune from them.

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Musk also said that allocating capital among Berkshire Hathaways various businesses seemed like a kind of a boring job and admitted he wasnt Buffett's "biggest fan."

Despite their past verbal sparring, it appears that Musk and Buffett may be burying the hatchet. At the recent Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting, Buffett had nothing but praise for Musk, calling him a brilliant guy with a strong vision for the future. He dreams about things, and his dreams have got a foundation, Buffett said.

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Musk responded to Buffetts kind words with a gracious tweet, thanking the legendary investor and his business partner Charlie Munger. Appreciate the kind words from Warren & Charlie, he wrote.

While there may still be some lingering tension between the two billionaires, its clear that they both have a deep respect for each others business acumen. As Buffett once said, Someones sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.

Warren Buffett and Elon Musk have become some of the biggest names in finance. But they, like many others, started out with an idea, built a startup and scaled. The next generation of business leaders are currently building startups across the country. While previously, investing in the early stages of pre-IPO Tesla and Berkshire Hathaway were only open to accredited investors, thanks to changes in federal law, that's all changing.

Now anyone can invest in pre-IPO companies on platforms like StartEngine and Wefunder. There's hundreds of startups currently open for investment, including investing in StartEngine itself.

See more on startup investing from Benzinga.

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This article Elon Musk Dismisses Warren Buffett's 'Kindly Grandfather' Image As Overrated originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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Elon Musk Dismisses Warren Buffett's 'Kindly Grandfather' Image As Overrated - Yahoo Finance

Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced changes to the platform's direct messages feature including the introduction of encryption.

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Twitter could launch encrypted direct messages on Wednesday, Elon Musk said, as the CEO outlined plans to boost communication features on the social media service.

Musk said in a tweet late Tuesday that the latest version of the Twitter app contains changes to direct messages or DMs nonpublic messages users send to one another.

The CEO said users can now reply to any message in a DM thread, not just the most recent, as well as use any emoji to react to a message. Previously, users would only be able to reply to the latest message in a DM thread and only react with specific emojis.

Musk also announced that encrypted DMs "should" be released on Wednesday.

Encryption in messages means that only the sender and receiver are able to see a message. In theory, Twitter and Musk would not be able to see or intercept direct messages between people.

"The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head," Musk tweeted.

Facebook parent Meta said in January that it was expanding testing for default end-to-end encryption for its Messenger service. WhatsApp, the other messaging app owned by Meta, has had end-to-end encryption for several years.

Encrypted messaging services have grown in popularity in the past few years as users focus more on privacy.

Musk also said that voice and video calls will be added soon to Twitter so users can "talk to people anywhere in the world" without giving them a phone number.

Since Twitter's inception, the development of the direct messages feature hasn't got much attention from previous CEOs. But Musk has signaled numerous times his intention to make Twitter into an "everything app" from messaging to financial services.

New Twitter features Musk promises are not always introduced on time. In February, he said Twitter would introduce a feature to share advertising revenue with creators on the platform. That hasn't happened yet.

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Twitter to launch encrypted direct messages with voice and video chat to follow, Elon Musk says - CNBC

JPMorgan global market strategist Jack Manley and The Fitz-Gerald Group principal Keith Fitz-Gerald discuss Tesla's investor day and if now is the time for investors to get off the sidelines on 'The Claman Countdown.'

Billionaire Elon Musk slammed Meta's WhatsApp Messenger on Tuesday, saying the messenger "cannot be trusted."

The Twitter chief was responding to a Saturday tweet from the social media company's director of engineering Foad Dabiri.

"WhatsApp has been using the microphone in the background, while I was asleep and since I woke up at 6 a.m. (and that's just a part of the timeline!) What's going on?" Dabiri tweeted, later noting for one user that he has a Google Pixel 7 Pro.

Musk initially replied that it was "weird," but retweeted the post two days later.

ELON MUSK MOCKS VICE PRESIDENT'S AI ROLE: 'MAYBE SOMEONE WHO CAN FIX THEIR OWN WIFI ROUTER'

Tesla CEO Elon Musk departs court in San Francisco on Jan. 24, 2023. (Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

"WhatsApp cannot be trusted," he said in a quote tweet.

WhatsApp did not respond to Musk directly, but did reply to Dabiri on Twitter. Meta pointed FOX Business to a series of tweets.

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"Over the last 24 hours weve been in touch with a Twitter engineer who posted an issue with his Pixel phone and WhatsApp. We believe this is a bug on Android that mis-attributes information in their Privacy Dashboard and have asked Google to investigate and remediate," it said.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Signage outside Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California, on April 20, 2023. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

"Users have full control over their mic settings. Once granted permission, WhatsApp only accesses the mic when a user is making a call or recording a voice note or video and even then, these communications are protected by end-to-end encryption so WhatsApp cannot hear them," WhatsApp added.

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Meta also pointed to a tweet from WABetaInfo, an account that provides news and real-time updates about WhatsApp.

WABetaInfo said it had previously reported that "this is a false positive from the OS, and some users told it happened after a certain patch some other apps may experience the same issue."

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Elon Musk slams Meta's WhatsApp: 'Cannot be trusted' - Fox Business

Tesla, Inc. TSLA stock pulled back on Friday amid rumors that Elon Musk could give up the CEO role at the electric vehicle company.

What Happened: Musk rubbished the rumors and reiterated his commitment to Tesla. His comments came in response to a follower who tagged him and asked for confirmation to The Wall Street Journal that he isn't stepping down from Tesla.

See Also: Best Electric Vehicle Stocks

For the unversed, the Journal carried a report that profiled Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn, suggesting that he is the one calling the shots.

In reply, Musk said, "Obviously, bringing on Linda allows me to devote more time to Tesla, which is exactly what I will be doing!"

Musk was referring to handing over the reins of Twitter to Linda Yaccarino, former NBCUniversal executive. This is widely expected to free up the tech entrepreneurs time so that he can focus on his other ventures, including Tesla.

When the billionaire confirmed in the late afternoon on Thursday, Tesla stock spiked higher. Friday's premarket movement in the stock also suggested strength. But as the WSJ report was quoted by other news sites and rumors spread around Musk easing out of the Tesla CEO role, the stock slid throughout the morning session on Friday and then went about a consolidation move at the depressed level in the afternoon.

Price Action: The stock ended Friday's session at $167.20, down 0.40%, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Read Next: Cathie Wood Unfazed By Autopilot Concerns, Calls Teslas FSD Most Impactful AI Project

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Tesla Investors, Relax! Elon Musk Says He Isn't Going Anywhere ... - Benzinga

Tesla, Inc. TSLA was hit with negative headlines on Friday, when reports revealed a massive recall of 1.1 million vehicles by Chinese regulators.

China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said that the recall was issued in response to a problem preventing drivers from choosing the regenerative braking system and the lack of a warning when the accelerator pedal is pressed hard for a long time.

According to the agency, both issues increase the risk of collision and pose a safety hazard.

SAMR also said in its release that Tesla China intends to execute over-the-air upgrades to resolve the recalled vehicles issues.

Media coverage of the recall has since appeared to enrage Tesla fans and, even, disappoint CEO Elon Musk.

On Friday, a Tesla influencer tweeted a Community Note or a note that Twitter contributors can leave on any tweet that called out a Bloomberg tweet on Tesla's response to the "recall. The note said that there was no physical recall involved and that the recall itself would be an over-the-air software update.

See Also: Everything You Need To Know About Tesla Stock

Musk replied to the influencers tweet, saying, "When will they learn sigh."

In response, the influencer said outlets would learn as soon as the "clickbait stops working."

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Tesla closed Fridays session down 2.38% at $167.98, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Photo: NVIDIA Corporation via flickr

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Elon Musk Reacts To Media Coverage Of 1.1M Tesla China Recall ... - Benzinga

Elon Musk said Thursday he has found a new CEO for Twitter, or X Corp. as its now called and she's a woman. He did not name her but said she will be starting in about six weeks.

Musk, who bought Twitter last fall and has been running it since, has long insisted he is not the companys permanent CEO. The Tesla billionaire said in a tweet Thursday that his role will transition to being Twitter's executive chairman and chief technology officer.

In mid-November, just a few weeks after buying the social media platform for US$44 billion, he told a Delaware court that he does not want to be the CEO of any company.

While testifying, Musk said I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time.

More than a month later, he tweeted in December: I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job. The pledge came after millions of Twitter users asked him to step down in a Twitter poll the billionaire himself created and promised to abide by.

In February, he told a conference he anticipated finding a CEO for San Francisco-based Twitter probably toward the end of this year.

Shares of Tesla rose about 2% Thursday after Musk made the announcement. Shareholders of the electric car company have been concerned about how much of his attention is being spent on Twitter.

Last November, he was questioned in court about how he splits his time among Tesla and his other companies, including SpaceX and Twitter. Musk had to testify in the trial in Delawares Court of Chancery over a shareholders challenge to his potentially $55 billion compensation plan as CEO of the electric car company.

Musk said he never intended to be CEO of Tesla, and that he didnt want to be chief executive of any other companies either, preferring to see himself as an engineer. Musk also said at the time that he expected an organizational restructuring of Twitter to be completed in the next week or so. Its been nearly six months since he said that.

Musk's tenure at Twitter's helm has been chaotic, and he's made various promises and proclamations he's backtracked or never followed up on. He began his first day firing the company's top executives, followed by roughly 80% of its staff. He's upended the platform's verification system and has scaled back content moderation and safeguards against the spread of misinformation.

Bantering with Twitter followers late last year, Musk expressed pessimism about the prospects for a new CEO, saying that person must like pain a lot to run a company that has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy.

No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor, Musk tweeted at the time.

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Elon Musk says he's found a woman to lead Twitter as new CEO - BNN Bloomberg

Electric vehicle stocks experienced another week of mixed performance, with earnings impacting stock moves. Market leader Tesla, Inc. TSLA had a down week amid several negative headlines.

Here are the key events that happened in the EV space during the week:

Tesla's Leadership Rumors, Price Hikes And More: Tesla shares came under selling pressure on Friday, following reports of CEO Elon Musk stepping down. The stock fell nearly 2.4% on the reports. The billionaire entrepreneur later clarified that he intends to focus more on Tesla now that he is leaving Twitter leadership to a new CEO.

In an encouraging sign, Tesla hiked EV prices yet again in the U.S. this week, reversing some of the aggressive cuts it had been implementing since the start of the year. This week saw Model S and X prices in the U.S. go up by $1,000 and Model Y prices increase by a more modest $250. Analysts such as Future Fund's Gary Black see this as a positive development, giving hope that margins could bottom in the second quarter.

Tesla was also hit with a recall this week, as Chinese regulators ordered the recall of 1.1 million Tesla cars that were both imported and made in China. The recalled vehicles could have issues that raise the probability of drivers "mistakenly stepping on the accelerator pedal" for an extended period, potentially increasing the risk of collision, regulators said. The company clarified that the issue would be resolved with a wireless software update.

See also: Best Electric Vehicle Stocks

Rivian Hints At Keeping Prices High After Beating Q1 Estimates: Amid a string of quarterly disappointments in the EV sector, Rivian Automotive, Inc.s RIVNfirst-quarter performance gave some reason for cheer. The company's key first-quarter metrics exceeded estimates, albeit only slightly, and Rivian maintained its full-year production guidance.

Following the results, CEO R.J. Scaringe said price reductions for its flagship models are not in the works, given that the EVs are not produced in high volumes and that the premium pricing can be justified by their better performance and features.

Fisker's Ocean Debut: Close on the heels of its first deliveries of the Ocean SUV, Fisker, Inc. FSR was earlier rumored to be facing problems with the SUVs debut launch due to software integration problems. The company clarified to Benzinga that the Bloomberg report was inaccurate and that no Ocean customer vehicles were on their way back to Fiskers partner and automotive manufacturer Magna.

The company also slashed its Ocean production guidance by about 10,000 units to 32,000 units.

Separately, the company's CEO Henrik Fisher said at the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit that production of its budget model PEAR SUV will be postponed from 2024 to the first half of 2025 due to negotiations with battery suppliers.

Li Auto's Strong Q1: Despite an intensifying rivalry in China, domestic startup Li Auto, Inc. LI reported better-than-expected first-quarter deliveries and turned around to a profit. The company also issued upbeat deliveries forecast for the second quarter.

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Toyota Charts Out Ambitious EV Plan: Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. TM, which reported its fourth-quarter results this week, said it expects to see a fivefold rise in pure electric vehicle sales in the new fiscal year. The world's biggest automaker by volume based the optimism on easing global supply chain challenges.

Read Next: Cathie Wood Unfazed By Autopilot Concerns, Calls Teslas FSD Most Impactful AI Project'

EV Stock Performances for The Week:

Photo: Shutterstock

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Elon Musk Committed To Tesla, Rivian Shuns Price Cuts, Fisker ... - Benzinga

Twitter employees might have left the office Friday feeling particularly demoralized. Last month, after yet another round of layoffs, CEO Elon Musk indicated hed share information about very significant stock and other compensation awards, based on performance on March 24.

Employees received no such information by the end of the workday. People are not happy, to say the least, tweeted Platformer journalist Zo Schiffer, who tracks the company closely.

But late last night, Musk apparently sent an email to employees with some of the much-anticipated details. Schiffer and the Wall Street Journal reported they obtained the message.

Fortune reached out to Twitter for comments but received no immediate reply, at least not from any humans. (The company no longer has a media communications team.)

In the email, Musk acknowledged the radical changes at Twitter since his $44 billion takeover in October, but said they were needed because the company had been close to running out of money, according to Schiffer.Now, financial incentives for workers should align with the company, which will do periodic liquidity events, he reportedly wrote.

Twitter is offering employees new equity grants that will start to vest after six months, according to the Journal, and in about a year it will offer a liquidity event in which they can cash out some of that equity.

The new grants will vest over four years, according to the Journal, and will be separate from legacy equity converted to cash when Musk took over.

The grants reflect a roughly $20 billion valuation, about 55% below the price Musk paid for the company, according to The Information.

Musk took Twitter private after buying it. In its last full year as a public firm, it had more than 7,500 employees and spent nearly $630 million on stock-based compensation, according to the Journal. As of December, the company had about 2,000 workers, following one round of layoffs after another and drastic cost-cutting measures.

Earlier this week, Musk sent employees an email at 2:30 a.m. saying the office is not optional, complaining about the San Francisco office being half empty. Musk has been a fierce critic of remote work, suggesting remote employees only pretend to work.

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Elon Musk gives Twitter employees details on very significant stock ...

JPMorgan global market strategist Jack Manley and The Fitz-Gerald Group principal Keith Fitz-Gerald discuss Tesla's investor day and if now is the time for investors to get off the sidelines on 'The Claman Countdown.'

Twitter CEO Elon Musk reportedly sent a notice to staff early Wednesday morning to remind them that working from home is not acceptable.

According to Platformer managing editor Zo Schiffer, Musk emailed employees at 2:30 in the morning, writing that "office is not optional." In the email, he complained that half of the San Francisco headquarters was empty the day before.

Musk is not a fan of remote work. Back in November, he ended Twitter's work-from-home accommodations, telling employees within driving distance of the office that they needed to show up in person or consider their "resignation accepted."

Last summer, he sent a similar note to his employees at Tesla, telling employees they were required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week. "Remote work is no longer acceptable," was the subject line of that email.

ELON MUSK SAYS TWITTER WILL OPEN SOURCE THE CODE IT USES TO RECOMMEND TWEETS

This video grab taken from a video posted on the Twitter account of billionaire Tesla chief Elon Musk on Oct. 26, 2022, shows himself carrying a sink as he enters the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco. (Twitter account of Elon Musk/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Since his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform, Musk has shown no qualms about showing the door to Twitter employees who aren't down with his vision. He's ordered several rounds of layoffs, both as a cost-cutting measure and as a means of excising those who don't agree with the direction he's taking the company.

Twitter is no longer responding to requests for comment from the press. The press@twitter.com email address automatically responds to journalists with a poop emoji.

TWITTER WILL DO AWAY WITH LEGACY BLUE CHECKS SOON

A view of Twitter Headquarters in San Francisco, Feb. 8, 2023. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)

As the COVID-19 pandemic era comes to an end, more businesses are having their remote workers return to the office.

A Labor Department report released this week found that 72.5% of business establishments said their employees teleworked rarely or not at all last year, the Wall Street Journal reported. That figure was an increase from 60.1% in 2021. The survey showed about 21 million more workers on-site full time in 2022 compared to the year before.

US FIGHTING A REMOTE WORK TUG OF WAR AS EMPLOYEES LOOK FOR COMPROMISE,' EXPERT SAYS

In this photo illustration, the Elon Musk Twitter account seen displayed on a smartphone and Twitter logo in the background. (Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The share of businesses with some, but not all employees teleworking was 16.4% in 2022, a decrease from 29.8% the year prior, according to the Labor Department.

The paper noted that several large companies are pushing their employees to show up in-person at the office more often. Those include the Walt Disney Co., which requires employees to come into work for four days a week, Starbucks Corp., and Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc.

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"Our hypothesis is that it is still easier to build trust in person and that those relationships help us work more effectively," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a letter to employees earlier this month.

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Elon Musk tells employees to get back in office with 2:30 am memo

1. Musk reportedly tried to take over OpenAI, left after being rejected  Business Insider
2. Elon Musk has watched Twitter plummet in value and OpenAI soar after he parted ways with it  Fortune
3. Elon Musk Reveals Tech's New Villain  TheStreet

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Musk reportedly tried to take over OpenAI, left after being rejected - Business Insider