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Wednesday Jan.04, 2023
🚗 Tesla’s mixed delivery
Blue checkmarks on the brain? (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Hey Snackers,
Shopify's starting off the new year by asking: how about never? The ecomm biz told employees it’s canceling all recurring meetings with three or more people. New Year’s resolution: less Zoom fatigue.
The first trading day of the year was anticlimactic as investors awoke from their holiday stupor. Eyes are on Friday’s December jobs report to shed light on the health of the labor market, which could influence future Fed rate hikes.
Distraction
Tesla unwraps a yearly record, but fails to deliver a confidence boost as Elon’s Twitter era takes focus
’Twas Elon-g year… Between launching rockets, running Tesla, and buying Twitter, it was a very long year for Elon Musk. Tesla kicked off the brand-spanking-new year by reporting its latest delivery numbers. The EV pioneer unloaded 1M+ cars for the first time, but Wall Street wasn’t impressed with the final tally: Tesla stock plunged 12% yesterday — its worst drop in over two years.
- Tesla Wrapped: Elon’s baby delivered a record 1.3M cars last year, up 40% from 2021. The impressive growth still fell shy of the 50% target Tesla had set.
- UnMuskular: Fourth-quarter deliveries were up 18% from the previous quarter, to 405K cars, disappointing analysts’ (already lowered) expectations. Demand for Teslas has softened as rising interest rates bite consumers.
Less editing mode, more Ludicrous mode… Some investors saw the disappointing results as confirmation that Musk is too distracted with running Twitter — but Tesla’s year was a mixed bag of wins and losses:
Attraction: Tesla’s growth rate beats all its major rivals, it’s one of the most profitable carmakers, and it’s boosting production at new digs in Texas and Germany.
Traction: Tesla had to halt production numerous times at its largest factory, in Shanghai, as China’s strict Covid policy continued. Meanwhile, electric-car maker BYD surpassed Tesla’s sales in China, casting doubt on its future dominance.
Distraction? To some, Musk appears to have been preoccupied with revamping Twitter, which he bought in October for $44B. He sold billions worth of his Tesla shares to help finance the buyout.
Doing the most comes at a cost… because even Elon Musk can’t be everywhere all at once. Last year Tesla stock sank 67% as many investors lost confidence in the company’s future. Some worry that Musk may be focusing too much energy on Twitter — to Tesla’s detriment. The billionaire entrepreneur also runs rocket company SpaceX, tunnel transportation enterprise The Boring Company, and brain-implant startup Neuralink.
Baggage
Southwest’s holiday meltdown could cost it $700M — and serve as a cautionary tale for other airlines
The cancellation before Christmas… Holiday festivities may be over, but lots of travelers are still recovering from a Southwest-flavored hangover. ICYMI: the Dallas-based airline canceled over two-thirds (think: 15K+) of its Christmas-week flights after a historic winter storm overwhelmed its operation systems and left hundreds of thousands of fliers stranded. The Department of Transportation said it’s investigating the meltdown and will hold Southwest accountable for reimbursing affected travelers.
- The good: On Monday, Southwest said its schedules were almost back to normal after it reduced capacity to recover from the cancellations.
- The bad: There are still mountains of unclaimed luggage. Southwest is working with FedEx and UPS to return lost bags.
- The ugly: The fiasco could cost Southwest $700M after covering ticket refunds and expenses like hotels and rental cars.
Old system, new snags… Airlines have been historically slow to adopt new software, because bugs can lead to grounded planes and passengers. Over the years Southwest’s pilot and flight-attendant unions have complained about the airline's outdated tech. They argued that it left the company vulnerable and that updating it should be a higher priority than shareholder perks (picture: dividends). Analysts expect the holiday tailspin to slash nearly a tenth of Southwest’s earnings when it reports this month.
Failure to upgrade can mean a major downgrade… Some experts say Southwest and other airlines have prioritized upgrading customer-facing systems (like: reservations and loyalty programs) over its back-end systems. While tech hiccups aren't usually a deal breaker in daily airline operations, they can be catastrophic when combined with outside disruptions like last month's massive storm. Southwest's fallout could spur other airlines to update their systems — or risk being grounded by customers.
DEFI(NE)
Heard on the Block: "oracle"
📠 Like an office worker endlessly scanning and uploading docs…
Crypto lives on the blockchain, but some smart contracts depend on real-world (aka "off-chain") data. An oracle is a third party responsible for providing off-chain info like sports scores, weather, and the price of gold to smart contracts like prediction markets or digital casinos. Oracles are increasingly seen as a crypto security weak spot.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Sip: Dubai suspended its 30% alcohol tax as it competes for tourism (booze is still banned for Muslims). The move comes as Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia work to reduce their dependence on oil $$.
- Sparkle: Gold hit a six-month high yesterday. Analysts said that recession concerns helped drive the price of the precious metal, but soaring interest rates could dampen appeal.
- Spat: Gemini's pres said crypto conglomerate's DCG's missteps led to the freezing of $900M in Gemini customer funds. Investors are suing the Gemini exchange over its crypto lending, which relied on DCG's Genesis.
- Sick: Scientists say an Omicron subvariant (meet: XBB.1.5) represents 41% of new US cases. XBB is said to more easily evade people's immune response, leading scientists to warn of a potential Covid surge.
- SBF: Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried yesterday pleaded not guilty to eight charges in federal court. Caroline Ellison, once the head of SBF-owned hedge fund Alameda, previously testified to misusing customer funds.
Wednesday
- Federal Open Market Committee minutes expected
Authors of this Snacks own: shares of Tesla and Shopify
ID: 2661161
