CHINA-SHENZHEN-VEHICLE CARRIER VESSEL-BYD-MAIDEN VOYAGE (CN)

(Xinhua/Getty Images)

BYD’s profit could double in Q1, as deliveries keep racing ahead of Tesla

The Chinese EV giant delivered 1 million+ cars in Q1 and continues to pull ahead on some pretty huge metrics.

4/9/25 10:28AM

In its preliminary earnings for the first quarter on Tuesday, electric automaker BYD revealed that net income could jump as much as 119% in the first 3 months of the year to 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), after delivering more than 1 million EVs across Q1 — up almost 60% on the same period last year.

Easy ride

While Trump’s tariffs have been a major bump in the road for other automakers, BYD — which had no plans to sell cars in the US owing to existing tariffs, even before this latest round — has had a pretty smooth year so far, with shares hitting a record high in March, after the company announced its market-leading superfast charging tech.

Less than a week later, execs and investors at the Shenzhen-based company had even more to cheer, after the EV giant posted 777 billion yuan ($107 billion) in sales across 2024, surpassing US rival Tesla’s annual revenue figures for the first time in 7 years.

BYD lagging Tesla on that measure has often been down to the Chinese automaker’s comparatively cheap cars, too, with one of its most popular EVs starting around $10,000. On model deliveries overall, BYD has been pulling ahead for years now.

Per numbers from CnEV, a company that tracks China’s electric vehicle market, BYD delivered just over 1 million EV units in the first 3 months of 2025, compared to Tesla’s 336,681 shipments over the same period, which disappointed investors in Elon Musk’s car company. Although Tesla’s recent struggles around the world have certainly led to more daylight between the two EV makers in recent months, the gap has looked increasingly difficult for the American automaker to close ever since it first ceded the lead in 2022.

In bad news for Tesla execs and investors, some worry that tariffs might only widen the gulf between the two.

Thank you, Mr. President

Speaking with the New York Post recently, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said that they were “probably drinking champagne” at BYD headquarters as Trump announced the tariffs, adding that the new restrictions only “accelerate BYD’s success,” and estimating that the tariffs could force additional costs of as much as $100 billion on automakers like Tesla each year.

Investors took note of the company’s better-than-expected preliminary results, pushing shares up as much as 7.8% on Tuesday, with BYD up ~20% so far this year, while Tesla has declined more than 40% in the same period.

Rani Molla3h

Tesla sales drop in Germany, adding to declines across Europe

Tesla sales in Germany, one of its biggest European markets, fell 20% in November and are down nearly 50% through November compared with a year earlier, deepening what has largely been a year of sales declines across the continent.

CEO Elon Musk has said Europe, Tesla’s third-largest market, is its “weakest market,” blaming the lack of regulatory approval for its Full Self-Driving tech.

For what it’s worth, even in places where FSD is allowed, adoption isn’t strong. On the company’s most recent earnings call, CFO Vaibhav Taneja said that globally, only 12% of Tesla’s existing fleet pays for FSD.

Jon Keegan3h

Report: Anthropic hires law firm to prepare for possible IPO in 2026

Anthropic has taken the first steps toward a possible initial public offering next year, according to a new report from the Financial Times.

Anthropic has hired West Coast law firm Wilson Sonsini to begin work on the IPO, per the report.

Anthropic’s valuation has skyrocketed recently, reaching as high as $350 billion by some estimates. An IPO for Anthropic would allow investors one of their first real cracks at tapping into white-hot demand for the private companies at the heart of the generative-AI boom that started three years ago with OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT.

Anthropic taps IPO lawyers as it races OpenAI to go public

Anthropic Projects $70 Billion in Revenue, $17 Billion in Cash Flow in 2028

Rani Molla3h

Microsoft drops after report that it lowered AI sales quotas in the face of lower-than-expected demand

Microsoft was down around 3% this morning after The Information reported that multiple divisions within the tech giant have lowered their sales quotas for AI products as traditional customers resist paying more for largely unproven tech. The stock pared some of those losses after CNBC reported that Microsoft issued a statement saying it hadn’t lowered sales quotas or targets. The Information has updated its headline to say “Microsoft Lowers AI Software Growth Targets as Customers Resist Newer Products.”

While AI spending has been a major revenue lift for Microsoft, The Information noted that much of that revenue is booked from AI companies themselves, which rent cloud infrastructure from the hyperscaler — arrangements critics have described as circular deals that inflate apparent growth. Microsoft’s stock has been struggling following its earnings report in late October, when the company reversed its guidance on capital spending, meaning its AI expenses would continue to grow.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft salespeople were having trouble selling the company’s chatbot, Copilot, with consumers preferring OpenAI’s ChatGPT instead.

Microsoft Lowers AI Software Sales Quotas as Customers Resist Newer Products

Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft salespeople were having trouble selling the company’s chatbot, Copilot, with consumers preferring OpenAI’s ChatGPT instead.

+6%

Rani Molla4h

Apple iPhone shipments are expected to jump 6.1% to a record 247.4 million units this year, according to a new report by IDC, “thanks to the phenomenal success of its latest iPhone 17 series.”

Meanwhile, smartphone sales overall are expected to grow 1.5% this year compared with 2024.

Apple’s previous annual record was in 2021, when the iPhone 13 came out. The IDC Apple estimate is higher than a recent one by Counterpoint Research, which pegged shipments at 243 million.

Rani Molla5h

Uber beats Google’s Waymo to Dallas

Uber jumped more than 2% premarket after announcing that users in Dallas could be matched with its Avride robotaxis beginning today. The coverage area is small to start with — 9 square miles of Dallas, including downtown — though the company plans to expand that operating territory in the future. Uber didn’t disclose how many robotaxis would be operating in that area.

The move makes Uber the first company to offer an autonomous car service in the city.

Google’s Waymo said last month that it would begin operations in Dallas and a number of other markets in 2026. Lyft also plans to launch there next year. Uber now has autonomous vehicles on its platform in four cities, including Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta, which are all in partnership with Waymo.

Uber has had its autonomous eyes set on Dallas since at least 2019 and announced its partnership with Nebius-owned autonomous car company Avride in October 2024.

Uber and Avride Launch Robotaxi Rides in Dallas