Tesla’s Troubles Raise Questions About Its Invincibility

Elon Musk appeared to be in a defiant mood Wednesday when he stood before employees at Tesla’s factory near Berlin a week after an arsonist set fire to a high-voltage power pylon and brought production to a standstill. “They can’t stop us,” Mr. Musk, the company’s chief executive, told workers in a giant tent beside the plant. But there are proliferating signs that Tesla may not be as unstoppable as it once seemed. The company’s car sales are no longer growing at a torrid pace. Chinese automakers and established brands…

Taiwan Is Building a Satellite Network Without Elon Musk

In Taiwan, the government is racing to do what no country or even company has been able to: build an alternative to Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX. Starlink has allowed militaries, power plants and medical workers to maintain crucial online connections when primary infrastructure has failed in emergencies, such as an earthquake in Tonga and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Officials in Taiwan face constant reminders that its communication infrastructure must be able to withstand a crisis. The island democracy sits 80 miles from…

Tesla’s Price Cuts Lowered Its Profit

Tesla’s profit slumped in the third quarter after the carmaker cut prices to maintain its dominance of the market for electric vehicles. The company reported a net profit of $1.9 billion from July through September. That compared with $2.7 billion in the second quarter and $3.3 billion a year earlier. The company has slashed prices by around 25 percent in the United States during the last year, putting the priority on sales rather than profit. The least expensive version of Tesla’s best selling car, the Model Y sport utility vehicle,…

Interest Rate Jitters Sink the Giants of Tech

Market whiplash In the span of a month, the bottom has dropped out of the bull-market rally as investors have come to grips with the prospect of “higher for longer” interest rates worldwide. The sell-off in global stocks and bonds picked up steam on Thursday. And weary market watchers will be looking for more hints on the Fed’s view at next week’s Jackson Hole summit of central bankers and policymakers. Technology stocks have been hit particularly hard. The high-flying FANG+ Index — which comprises the largest tech stocks by market…

Tesla’s Profit Rose in the Second Quarter as Price Cuts Spurred Demand

Tesla reported a rise in profit for the second quarter after the company led by Elon Musk cut prices in response to increased competition and higher borrowing costs for car buyers. The company said on Wednesday that it earned $2.7 billion from April through June, compared with $2.5 billion in the first quarter of this year and $2.3 billion in the second quarter of 2022. Sales rose 7 percent, to $25 billion, from last quarter. Lower average sales prices, as well as the cost to produce a new pickup truck,…

The Regulatory Questions Swirling Around Meta’s Threads

Taylor Swift re-records her way onto the charts Taylor Swift on Thursday released the re-recorded version of one of her older albums, “Speak Now,” calling the move a “form of rebellion.” The singer is on a mission to re-record the first six albums in her catalog (she has done three) after the rights to the originals were sold in a contentious deal to the superagent Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in 2019 for north of $300 million. The investment firm Shamrock Capital Advisors bought the masters a year later for about…

Tesla’s Second Quarter Sales and Deliveries Rise as Tax Credits Fuel Demand

Tesla sales rose a better-than-expected 10 percent in the second quarter as the company led by Elon Musk benefited from government incentives and price cuts that made its electric cars less expensive than comparable gasoline models. Tesla delivered 466,000 vehicles from April through June, up from 423,000 vehicles in the previous quarter, the company said on Sunday. Compared with a year earlier, sales in the second quarter rose 83 percent as the company expanded production at new factories in Austin, Texas, and near Berlin. The sales figures exceeded estimates by…

Tesla Sales Surge as Tax Credits Fuel Demand

Tesla sales rose 10 percent in the second quarter as the company led by Elon Musk benefited from government incentives and price cuts that made its electric cars less expensive than comparable gasoline models. Tesla delivered 466,000 vehicles from April through June, up from 423,000 vehicles in the previous quarter, the company said on Sunday. Compared with a year earlier, sales in the second quarter rose 83 percent as the company expanded production at new factories in Austin, Texas, and near Berlin. Rules that took effect this year allowed buyers…

China Wants to Set the Terms of Any ‘Thaw’ With the U.S.

For a few weeks, a flurry of meetings between American and Chinese officials seemed to signal that the two countries were trying to reduce tensions, after months of rancor and frozen high-level contacts raised concerns about the risk of a conflict, accidental or otherwise. First the U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Vienna, in May. Then the two countries’ top commerce officials held talks, the first bilateral cabinet-level meeting in Washington in months. China’s ambassador also arrived in Washington last week, finally…

Tesla’s Profit Dropped Sharply in First Quarter as It Cut Prices

Tesla’s profit fell sharply in the first three months of the year after it cut the prices of its electric vehicles, the company said on Wednesday. The carmaker, led by Elon Musk, said it had made $2.5 billion in the first quarter, a drop from $3.7 billion in the last three months of last year and $3.3 billion in the first quarter of 2022. Tesla sold more electric cars in the United States last year than all its competitors combined. But its market share slipped as traditional carmakers like General…