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Tesla’s fourth-quarter adjusted profits rose slightly amid a big push to sell its electric vehicles with offers of zero financing and other incentives, but the results still fell short of Wall Street forecasts.The electric vehicle, battery and robotics company run by Elon Musk said Wednesday that quarterly net income adjusted for one-time items rose 3% to $2.6 billion, or 73 cents a shareless than analysts’ estimate of 77 cents.Tesla stock initially fell after trading closed Wednesday, then reversed course to rise more than 4% after Musk told analysts on a conference call that the company was on track to offer unsupervised “full self-driving” technology to its customers as a paid service starting in Austin in June.“It went from a theoretical, ‘We hope to launch something in 2025,’ to a set timeline,” said Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein. “That’s a big step forward.”Tesla has been losing market share in several countries as traditional car makers and other EV companies, such as China’s BYD, offer customers alternatives. Its stock has surged nonetheless, rising by more than 50% since President Donald Trump was elected, on investor optimism that Musk’s advisory role in the new administration will help the company.In its letter to shareholders and on the analyst call, Tesla it was hoping to lift sales by driving the cost of its vehicles down, highlighting that one cost measure fell below $35,000, the lowest in its history. It said production of “more affordable” models are expected to start in the first half of the year, with Musk emphasizing that “maximizing volume” was priority.But then he quickly pivoted in the conference call to other goals and parts of the business, and the stock started climbing.“AI and roboticsthat will bear immense fruit,” he said, adding “I see a path, I’m not saying it’s an easy path, but I see a path for Tesla being the most valuable company in the worldby far, not even close,” leapfrogging the likes of Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia. Tesla is currently the seventh-most valuable company in the S&P 500 with a market value of $1.25 trillion.Tesla’s unadjusted profits for October through December period were down dramatically, though the year-earlier period was a poor comparison because the results included a large one-time tax benefit. The company said it made $2.31 billion last quarter, down 71% from the $7.93 billion profit in the same period in 2023.Revenue rose 2% to $25.7 billion, less than Wall Street’s forecast of $27.1 billion, according to FactSet. Tesla offered a series of incentives during the quarter to drum up demand for its electric vehicles including low-interest loans and lower prices. Tesla’s gross profit margin fell to 16.3% for the quarter, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier.Earlier this month, Tesla said it sold 1.79 million vehicles in 2024, the first drop in more than a dozen years despite offers of 0% financing, free charging and low-priced leases. The fourth quarter showed signs of a rebound, though, with a record 495,570 vehicles sold.“The bulls got what they wanted, and the bears got data to support them as well,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, a big fan of the stock. “But ultimately what will drive the stock is autonomous driving, and this is the bullish I’ve ever heard Musk.”For the full year, Tesla posted profits before one-time items of $8.42 billion, down 23% from the year earlier.Investors are expecting that Musk’s close relationship with Trump will translate into lighter regulation on the car company, fewer investigations and help in speeding the development of autonomous driving.But the Trump administration has also vowed to cut government incentives to customers to buy EVs and says it will loosen emission standards. The latter especially could hurt Tesla because it has a big business in selling “regulatory credits” to other automakers that fall short of the standards.The latest financial report showed that in the fourth quarter Tesla sold $692 million in these credits, a spigot of cash that could be turned off if Trump follows through on his vow. Bernard Condon, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
A jet with 60 passengers and four crew members collided with an Army helicopter Wednesday while approaching the Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington. The aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River, and multiple people were killed.The crash occurred in some of the most tightly controlled and monitored airspace in the world, just over three miles (five kilometers) south of the White House and the U.S. Capitol.Here are some things to know about the collision: The crash The midair crash happened around 9 p.m. when a regional jet at the end of a flight from Wichita, Kansas, collided with a military helicopter on a training exercise, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.A few minutes before the jet was to land, air traffic controllers asked American Airlines Flight 5342 if it could land on a shorter runway, and the pilots agreed. Controllers cleared the jet to land and flight tracking sites showed the plane adjust its approach to the new runway.Less than 30 seconds before the crash, an air traffic controller asked a helicopter if it had the arriving plane in sight. The controller made another radio call to the helicopter moments later: “PAT 25 pass behind the CRJ.” There was no reply. Seconds after that, the two aircraft collided.The plane’s radio transponder stopped transmitting about 2,400 feet short of the runway, roughly over the middle of the Potomac. Emergency response Authorities were conducting a massive search-and-rescue operation. Inflatable boats were launched into the river and first responders set up light towers from the shore to illuminate the area. Helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region also flew over the scene in a methodical search for bodies and survivors. Passengers and fatalities There was no official death toll announced at an early Thursday news conference, but a person familiar with the matter told the Associated Press there were multiple fatalities. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas hinted that the number killed will be high. “When one person dies it’s a tragedy, but when many, many, many people die it’s an unbearable sorrow,” he said. Russian figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov were aboard the plane, along with other Russian nationals, according to the Kremlin. Coaches, skaters, and others had been in Wichita for the 2025 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, which concluded Sunday, and a development camp.Shishkova and Naumov were married and won a 1994 world championship in pairs figure skating. Airport Located along the Potomac River, just southwest of Washington, Reagan National is a popular choice because it’s much closer to the city than the larger Dulles International Airport.All takeoffs and landings from Reagan Airport were halted. It will reopen at 11 a.m. Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration announced. Investigation Investigators will try to piece together the aircraft’s final moments before their collision, including contact with air traffic controllers as well as a loss of altitude by the passenger jet. Aircraft involved The helicopter was a UH-60 Black Hawk based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, according to the U.S. Army. A crew of three soldiers were on board the helicopter, an Army official said.The other aircraft was a Canadian-made Bombardier CRJ-701 twin-engine jet and was manufactured in 2004. It can be configured to carry up to 70 passengers. History of fatal aircraft crashes Fatal crashes of commercial aircraft in the U.S. have become a rarity. The last was in 2009 near Buffalo, New York. All 45 passengers and the four crew members were killed when the Bombardier DHC-8 propeller plane crashed into a house. One person on the ground also was killed.The incident Wednesday recalled the crash of an Air Florida flight that plummeted into the Potomac on January 13, 1982, killing 78 people. That crash was attributed to bad weather. Hallie Golden, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
The employees of bankrupt retailer Big Lots have had to live with a lot of uncertainty ever since the company announced in mid-December that it was going out of business and closing all its stores. Just over a week later, Big Lots announced that it had struck a deal with Gordon Brothers Retail Partners to transfer some Big Lots assets to Variety Wholesalers and other retailers. According to the announcement, that meant some Big Lots locations, between 200 and 400 stores, would stay open and operating, potentially saving thousands of jobs. Unfortunately, theres yet no word on which Big Lots locations will continue to operate, leaving many Big Lots workers uncertain about their future employment. In mid-January, Gordon Brothers published a list of Big Lots leases that it was putting up for sale, suggesting that the stores on that list wouldnt be among those saved. Now, Gordon Brothers has updated that list to include more stores, giving a little more insight into which locations are closed or going to close for good. Phase 2 of Big Lots lease sales A few weeks ago, Gordon Brothers published a list titled New Market Locations Phase 1. That list included hundreds of Big Lots locations with leases for sale. When a stores lease is sold, the owner is looking for a buyer to move into the store’s location, freeing it from its rental obligations. The list included locations in 47 states, with Florida, New York, and Texas among the states with the most leases for sale. Now Gordon Brothers has released an updated list, titled New Market Locations Phase 2. The Phase 2 list includes many of the stores from the Phase 1 list but adds nearly 150 new locations, suggesting that these locations, too, will not be among the locations saved via the deal with Variety Wholesalers and other retailers. Among the states with the most additional stores marked for sale of their leases include Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. When will the saved Big Lots stores be revealed? While the Phase 1 and Phase 2 lists give us a good indication that the stores on them will not be among those that are saved, many Big Lots employees and customers are anxiously awaiting information on which stores will pull through. Unfortunately, we may not have a definitive list for some time yet. As Fast Company previously reported, in a January bankruptcy court filing, Big Lots revealed that all parties were working expeditiously to determine which [locations] can drive additional value to the estates or comprise the group of continuing Big Lots stores. However, the parties understandably require additional time to complete this analysis. Big Lots asked the court to give it until April 7 to develop a list of stores that will continue to operate.
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E-Commerce
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