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The hits keep coming for the worlds richest man, Elon Musk. Tesla reported another weak quarter of performance as car buyers around the world increasingly opt for other brands. That wasnt entirely surprising as analysts had forecast dismal first-quarter results, though the carmaker reported revenue and earnings that were significantly worse than the consensus of analysts estimates. The Austin-based carmaker reported that revenue fell 9.2% to $19.34 billion during the three months ended March 31, while the decline in the companys automotive revenue was even worse, falling 20% from the first quarter of 2024. Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter came in at 27 cents. The company cited issues stemming from policy to politics for its performance. Uncertainty in the automotive and energy markets continues to increase as rapidly evolving trade policy adversely impacts the global supply chain and cost structure of Tesla and our peers, the company said in the report. This dynamic, along with changing political sentiment, could have a meaningful impact on demand for our products in the near term. An update from Elon Musk In an effort to revitalize the beleaguered carmaker, investors are hopeful that CEO Elon Musk will make a newsworthy announcement in a live company update following the release of the quarterly results, scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET. Investors have been looking for any silver linings amid a 50% crash in the stocks price since its all-time high in December. One long-awaited update that Musk could offer investors is regarding plans for a more affordable electric vehicle model. That said, three sources exclusively told Reuters last week that the launch of such a vehicle has been delayed by at least several months. Likewise, theres been speculation on Wall Street that Musk might use the conference call to update investors about the planned debut of robotaxisdriverless ride-hailing services in Austin in June and in California later this year. Theres also been speculation that Musk might announce the timing of his departure from the Trump administration. Tesla shares fell nearly 1% in after-hours trading, after posting a 4.6% gain Tuesday alongside a broader rally in the U.S. stock market. Disdain reigns supreme Analysts and investors alike were bracing for what was widely expected to be a disastrous earnings report that coincides with Musk assuming a heavy-handed role as a senior advisor in President Donald Trumps second administration. Musk has become one of the most polarizing figures in the new administration, and theres palpable disdain for the man and the brand: About half of Americans have a negative view of both Musk and Tesla, according to the results of a CNBC survey released Tuesday. Tesla has become arguably the most scrutinized company in the world, Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, told the Associated Press ahead of the earnings results. In addition to being the target of protests and vandalism, Tesla was recently dealt a blow by regulators, who issued a recall of nearly all Cybertrucks last month. A fork in the road for Tesla Once a darling of Wall Street, Teslas performance has hit more than a few bumps in the road this year. Not only has vehicle production slowed, so too has delivery of these vehicles. In a report released earlier this month, the company reported 336,681 vehicle deliveries in the first quarter, a 13% decline from the same period a year ago. This missed the mark of various analysts’ estimates, which expected deliveries to number as much as nearly 378,000, according to the average estimate of select estimates that Teslas investor relations team sent to select analysts. That report highlighted a particular weakness for Tesla: Delivery of models other than the Model 3 and Model Y, the most popular in its fleet, slumped more than 24% to less than 13,000 vehicles, compared with 17,027 in 2024. This group of vehicles includes the much-hypedthough increasingly much-malignedCybertruck model that debuted in 2023. Following the release of that report, Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, posted on X that the numbers were a disaster on every metric and represented a fork in the road moment for the carmaker.
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E-Commerce
UnitedHealth Group spent nearly $1.7 million on security for its top executives in 2024, the healthcare conglomerate disclosed on Monday, months after the fatal shooting of senior executive Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel in December. The company also paid $207,931 on behalf of certain family members of the executives to provide them with personal and home security services, it said. The security spending disclosures, absent from UnitedHealth’s previous annual filings, underscore how the December shooting is prompting companies to reassess the risk of targeted violence against top management. U.S. drugmakers Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly also increased spending on security for their top executives in 2024, regulatory filings showed last month. “We believe that these security services are appropriate and necessary given the risks associated with executive officer positions at the company,” UnitedHealth said in the filing. Brian Thompson, the former CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s insurance unit UnitedHealthcare, was shot dead on December 4 outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel where the company was holding an investor conference. The filing also showed UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty’s total compensation for 2024 was $26.3 million, compared with $23.5 million a year ago. The conglomerate spent $150,951 towards Witty’s security, while $926,989 was paid for Heather Cianfrocco, the CEO of the company’s health services unit Optum. Following Thompson’s murder, health insurers removed pictures of their executives from corporate websites. In January, organizers at a major San Francisco healthcare meeting increased security for attendees inside and outside the venue. In past years, healthcare and pharmaceutical companies have typically covered the use of private jets and provided limited security-related compensation, according to earlier filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sriparna Roy, Reuters
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E-Commerce
The higher education community is pushing back against the Trump administration’s treatment of colleges and universities. On Tuesday, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), a global membership organization, published a joint statement condemning the administration’s ongoing threats to withhold federal funding from colleges and universities.“We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the letter reads. “We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight. However, we must oppose undue government intrusion,” it said, adding: “We must reject the coercive use of public research funding.” More than 170 university, college, and scholarly society presidents signed the letter, including those from the Ivy League institutions of Harvard, Brown, and Princeton, as well as heads of liberal arts schools and community colleges.The statement comes as tensions between higher education institutions and the current administration have been heating up in recent weeks. On Monday, Harvard University said it filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging Trump’s decision to freeze $2.2 billion in funding was unlawful. “Today, we stand for the values that have made American higher education a beacon for the world,” Harvard President Alan Garber said in a statement announcing the suit. “We stand for the truth that colleges and universities across the country can embrace and honor their legal obligations and best fulfill their essential role in society without improper government intrusion.” In its complaint, Harvard accused the government of failing to follow procedures set by federal civil rights laws and said the government was attempting to “coerce and control” the university by denying necessary funding. The federal funding freeze came after Harvard refused to bend to the administration’s demands, which included giving the administration information on students who may be participating in political activism it disagrees with; banning masks on campus; and ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families is coming to an end, White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said in a statement on Monday, per CNN. Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege. As the Trump administration has revoked student visas and detained students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses, which the administration has called antisemitic, the reaction from colleges and universities has differed broadly from school to school. While some institutions have stood fiercely behind their detained students, others have seemed to bow to Trump’s demands. Columbia University has expelled, suspended, and revoked the degrees of some students who had participated in political protests. However, Tuesday’s letter might be a sign of whats to come, as it is the largest collective effort among university and college heads to push back against the administration thus far.
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E-Commerce
U.S. health officials said they plan to phase out eight petroleum-based artificial colors from the nation’s food supply, triggering an overhaul of scores of brightly hued products on American store shelves. Details of the plan are expected to be announced Tuesday afternoon by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, who have advocated the change as part of Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again agenda. The officials are expected to spell out a regulatory path for removing the color additives, a process that typically requires public notice and agency review. It would be a sweeping change for U.S. food producers, who would likely replace the dyes with natural substitutes. Health advocates have long called for the removal of artificial dyes from foods, citing mixed studies indicating they can cause neurobehavioral problems, including hyperactivity and attention issues, in some children. The FDA has maintained that the approved dyes are safe and that the totality of scientific evidence shows that most children have no adverse effects when consuming foods containing color additives. The FDA currently allows 36 food color additives, including eight synthetic dyes. In January, the agency announced that the dye known as Red 3 used in candies, cakes and some medications would be banned by 2028 because it caused cancer in laboratory rats. The dyes Kennedy wants to remove are used widely in the U.S. foods. In Canada and in Europe where artificial colors are required to carry warning labels manufacturers use natural substitutes. Some U.S. states, such as California and West Virginia, recently enacted laws that ban artificial colors and other additives from school meals, and in some cases, the broader food supply. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Jonel Aleccia and Matthew Perrone, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Tuesday signaled support for the religious rights of parents in Maryland who want to remove their children from elementary school classes using storybooks with LGBTQ characters. The court seemed likely to find that the Montgomery County school system, in suburban Washington, could not require elementary school children to sit through lessons involving the books if parents expressed religious objections to the material. The case is the latest dispute involving religion to come before the court. The justices have repeatedly endorsed claims of religious discrimination in recent years. I’m surprised this is the hill to die on in terms of not respecting religious liberty, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said, citing the county’s diverse population and Maryland’s history as a haven for Catholics. The county school board introduced the storybooks as part of an effort to better reflect the district’s diversity. Parents sued after the school system stopped allowing them to pull their kids from lessons that included the books. The parents argue that public schools cannot force kids to participate in instruction that violates their faith, and they pointed to the opt-out provisions in sex education classes. The schools said allowing children to opt out of the lessons had become disruptive. Lower courts backed the schools, prompting the parents’ appeal to the Supreme Court. Five books are at issue in the high court case, touching on the same themes found in classic stories that include Snow White, Cinderella and Peter Pan, the school system’s lawyers wrote. In Prince and Knight, two men fall in love after they rescue the kingdom, and each other. In Uncle Bobbys Wedding, a niece worries that her uncle will not have as much time for her after he gets married. His partner is a man. Love, Violet deals with a girls anxiety about giving a valentine to another girl. Born Ready is the story of a transgender boys decision to share his gender identity with his family and the world. Intersection Allies describes nine characters of varying backgrounds, including one who is gender-fluid. Billy Moges, a board member of the Kids First parents’ group that sued over the books, said the content is sexual, confusing and inappropriate for young schoolchildren. The writers’ group Pen America said in a court filing what the parents want is a constitutionally suspect book ban by another name. Pen America reported more than 10,000 books were banned in the last school year. A decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor is expected by early summer. Mark Sherman, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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