Business
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Rani Molla

Donald Trump is mentioned way, way more than Joe Biden on company earnings calls

Companies were more likely to mention Donald Trump during earnings calls ahead of and during his first presidency than they were to mention Joe Biden ahead of and during his. It looks like that’s going to be the case again for Trump’s second term. In the fourth quarter of this year, nearly 50 company transcripts explicitly mentioned Donald Trump, according to data from FactSet — a higher number than during the quarter he was first elected or when Biden was elected.

This time around, companies including Bakkt Holdings Inc., Beam Global, and Complete Solaria are talking about how Trump’s policies — on everything from tariffs to cryptocurrency to the environment — will affect them. Bakkt, a crypto-trading platform, is reportedly being targeted for acquisition by Trump Media & Technology Group, so had good reason to mention the President-elect.

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Tesla Will Open Up Its Chargers To Other Brands, In Order To Receive Federal Subsidies

After a big pullback for EVs, climbing gas prices are causing drivers to eye them again

Still, the market is much different than it was the last time oil prices were this high.

business
Rani Molla

How Tesla quietly wound up owning a small piece of SpaceX

Tesla is converting its recent $2 billion investment in Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, into a small ownership stake in SpaceX — just months before the rocket maker’s highly anticipated IPO.

Here’s what happened: Tesla announced its xAI investment in late January, after a shareholder proposal to invest fell short last year. Several days later, xAI merged with SpaceX. All three companies are headed by Musk.

Now, regulatory filings with the Federal Trade Commission show Tesla converting that investment into a small stake in SpaceX, formalizing the financial link between the companies ahead of the rocket maker’s IPO. SpaceX is expected to go public this year at a valuation some speculate could top $1.75 trillion, potentially making it the biggest company to ever go public. (The current record holder, Saudi Aramco, went public at a more than $1.7 trillion valuation in 2020.)

While the size of Tesla’s stake wasn’t available, Bloomberg reports that the investment would equate to ownership of less than 1%.

While SpaceX and Tesla have engaged in related-party transactions over the years, Tesla had not previously disclosed an equity investment in SpaceX.

Now, regulatory filings with the Federal Trade Commission show Tesla converting that investment into a small stake in SpaceX, formalizing the financial link between the companies ahead of the rocket maker’s IPO. SpaceX is expected to go public this year at a valuation some speculate could top $1.75 trillion, potentially making it the biggest company to ever go public. (The current record holder, Saudi Aramco, went public at a more than $1.7 trillion valuation in 2020.)

While the size of Tesla’s stake wasn’t available, Bloomberg reports that the investment would equate to ownership of less than 1%.

While SpaceX and Tesla have engaged in related-party transactions over the years, Tesla had not previously disclosed an equity investment in SpaceX.

Southwest Airlines At San Diego International Airport

Southwest stopped fuel hedging a year ago. Whoops.

It’s been a year since Southwest said it would end its fuel-hedging program. Oil’s moves this year make that decision look like a mistake.

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