May numbers are in for Tesla in Europe and China — and they’re bad

Last quarter was terrible for Tesla, which saw a 13% drop in vehicle sales or about 50,000 fewer than it had delivered in Q1 2024, its biggest ever year-on-year decline. We’re now two months into the second quarter and things could be looking even worse. May sales of Tesla in Europe and China — the EV company’s two biggest markets besides the US — were down about 30% each, according to data collected by an analyst who goes by Troy Teslike and whose Tesla’s estimates are consistently very close to reality.

This quarter, using data from April and May and estimates for June, it looks like Tesla will have missed last year’s numbers by about 50,000 in Europe and China alone. Adding in his estimates for US sales, Teslike expects Q2 Tesla deliveries to be 78,000 shy of Q2 2024’s 444,000, or about 18% lower.

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Rani Molla1/30/26

Tesla investors like the idea of merging with SpaceX

Tesla is trading up about 2.5% in early trading Friday after reports Thursday that the Elon Musk-led company was considering a merger with SpaceX, another of Musk’s many companies.

That’s a better showing than the stock’s reaction to its better-than-expected earnings a day earlier, after which shares closed down 3.5%. Acquiring a very valuable, entirely different company, it turns out, is a more attractive prospect than watching an existing one’s revenue and profit decline.

Musk is also reportedly considering merging SpaceX with xAI, his artificial intelligence company, which recently combined with his social media platform, X.

SpaceX is actually considering a merger with Tesla or xAI: Report

Musk is also reportedly considering merging SpaceX with xAI, his artificial intelligence company, which recently combined with his social media platform, X.

Rani Molla

AI on Apple

1/30/26

Apple’s record quarter shows that AI doesn’t sell iPhones

Apple just had its best quarter ever without a fully functional AI product.

Jon Keegan1/29/26

WSJ: OpenAI plans Q4 IPO in race to be the first AI startup to enter public markets

OpenAI was the first to the generative-AI market with ChatGPT, and now it hopes to be the first of its AI startup cohort to pull off an initial public offering, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The $500 billion startup is in a race against its $350 billion competitor Anthropic, which has also been exploring an IPO.

Per the report, OpenAI is in talks with banks to try for a fourth-quarter IPO this year, which has the potential to be one of the largest IPOs ever in a year that is expected to see many record-breaking tech companies tap into public markets to raise sizable new rounds of capital.

Ahead of a potential public listing, OpenAI is reportedly attempting to raise a massive round of private investment. The company is reportedly aiming to raise $100 billion, with Amazon potentially accounting for up to half of that target. Other investors in talks with OpenAI over the private fundraising round include Nvidia, Microsoft, and SoftBank.

Exclusive | OpenAI Plans Fourth-Quarter IPO in Race to Beat Anthropic to Market

Rani Molla1/29/26

SpaceX is actually considering a merger with Tesla or xAI: Report

Bloomberg reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX is considering merging with Musk’s Tesla. Earlier today, Reuters had reported that SpaceX was thinking of potentially merging with xAI ahead of SpaceX’s IPO this year.

From Bloomberg:

“The firm has discussed the feasibility of a tie-up between SpaceX and Tesla, an idea that some investors are pushing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Separately, they are also exploring a tie-up between SpaceX and xAI ahead of an IPO, some of the people said.”

Musk’s companies already have numerous relationships between themselves, including most recently Tesla’s $2 billion investment in xAI. At Tesla’s shareholder meeting last year, shareholders voted to invest in the company but the board didn’t approve the measure due to significant abstentions.

In 2024, SpaceX incurred about $2.4 million in expenses under commercial, licensing, and support agreements with Tesla, and Tesla incurred about $800,000 in expenses for Musk’s use of SpaceX’s jet.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Is Said to Consider Merger With Tesla or xAI

From Bloomberg:

“The firm has discussed the feasibility of a tie-up between SpaceX and Tesla, an idea that some investors are pushing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Separately, they are also exploring a tie-up between SpaceX and xAI ahead of an IPO, some of the people said.”

Rani Molla

APPLE OF MY AI

1/29/26

Apple posts record quarterly revenue and iPhone sales

But all eyes will be on margins and AI.

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