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Electric Shock

The many reasons Tesla’s stock is down

Does it even need an excuse anymore?

3/18/25 10:19AM

These days Tesla doesn’t really need a single reason to see its stock plunge. Its headwinds are many, and many of them are evergreen. Today the stock is down about 6%. Why? Here are some potential recent options:

BYD just blew Tesla’s Superchargers out of the water by unveiling charging tech that’s more than twice as fast as Tesla’s.
Chinese rivals Zeekr and Xpeng became the first to offer level 3 autonomous driving, meaning drivers can take their hands off the wheel.
Even Tesla’s leadership is selling the stock — to the tune of more than $100 million in recent weeks.
Sales have plunged around the world this year, making the company’s promised “return to growth” seem more remote.
Analysts keep lowering their forecasts for full-year deliveries.
The brand has become more unpopular than ever among the general population of the US, which is its biggest market, thanks in part to the political actions of its CEO, Elon Musk.
People around the world are boycotting the company.
A YouTuber just demonstrated how Tesla’s choice to use only cameras as sensors makes its vehicles less smart than a “Looney Tunes” character.
The company halted deliveries of its “bullet-proof” Cybertrucks after the vehicles’ trim started flying off and turning into projectiles.
There’s been a market-wide breakdown among momentum stocks.
Tesla is one of the worst-performing stocks in the S&P 500 this year.

There are probably other reasons, but any one of these, or a combination of them, can easily pummel the stock.

Jon Keegan10h

OpenAI reportedly poaching key Apple designers, using Apple manufacturing partners for AI gadgets

New details are emerging about the mysterious AI gadgets being designed by former Apple design chief Jony Ive since OpenAI purchased his startup “io” in May.

According to a report by The Information, Ive’s team has recruited several key Apple design and hardware employees to work on the gadgets. The Information reported some details of the devices:

“One of the products OpenAI has talked to suppliers about making resembles a smart speaker without a display, the people said. OpenAI has also considered building glasses, a digital voice recorder and a wearable pin, and is targeting late 2026 or early 2027 for the release of its first devices, one of the people said.”

OpenAI is also turning to Apple’s Chinese manufacturing partners to build the products, having signed contracts with Luxshare, and has been in talks with Goertek, per the report.

OpenAI Raids Apple for Hardware Talent, Manufacturing Partners

“One of the products OpenAI has talked to suppliers about making resembles a smart speaker without a display, the people said. OpenAI has also considered building glasses, a digital voice recorder and a wearable pin, and is targeting late 2026 or early 2027 for the release of its first devices, one of the people said.”

OpenAI is also turning to Apple’s Chinese manufacturing partners to build the products, having signed contracts with Luxshare, and has been in talks with Goertek, per the report.

Are Ray-Ban Meta glasses really a hit?

We checked how it stacks up to iconic gadgets, and the results are mixed.

Jon Keegan, Rani Molla10h

Rani Molla12h

Zuckerberg: AI might be a bubble but “misspending a couple of hundred billion” is worth it to achieve superintelligence

“It’s quite possible” that AI is a bubble, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told tech journalist Alex Heath, formerly of The Verge, on his new podcast, “Access,” and for his newsletter, Sources. That isn’t stopping Zuckerberg’s social media company from going all in on AI in hopes of achieving superintelligence, aka AI that’s smarter than humans.

“If we end up misspending a couple of hundred billion dollars, I think that that is going to be very unfortunate, obviously,” said Zuckerberg, who’s shelling out $600 billion on US data centers and infrastructure through 2028. “But what I’d say is I actually think the risk is higher on the other side.”

“The risk, at least for a company like Meta, is probably in not being aggressive enough rather than being somewhat too aggressive,” he added.

I saw Meta's new AI lab

“The risk, at least for a company like Meta, is probably in not being aggressive enough rather than being somewhat too aggressive,” he added.

Rani Molla

13h

People are rushing to buy Apple’s iPhone 17, but it’s probably not because of the iPhone 17

More people went to Apple’s website when preorders for the new iPhone began than have since 2022.

Rani Molla5h

Grok has 64 million monthly users while ChatGPT has 700 million weekly users

Daddy, it seems, is very much not home.

CEO Elon Musk spent the majority of his time at xAI this summer rather than at Tesla, where he recently claimed to have shifted his focus, The New York Times reports. The piece is full of other great details on his AI startup — read it all — but here are some notable tidbits from the story and from one of its reporters, Kate Conger, who shared extras on social media:

xAI’s Grok has 64 million monthly users, compared with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has about 700 million weekly users. Musk is currently suing OpenAI and Apple over what he says is unfavorable positioning on the iOS App Store.
Musk wanted Grok to be less woke and more popular, a command that led it to post antisemitic remarks and call itself “MechaHitler.”
Musk plans on building a Microsoft competitor called “Macrohard,” something he said he’s painting on the roof of xAI’s new Memphis data center.
xAI’s execs said after Grok 4, the next model will be called Grok 420.

UPDATE (September 19): Corrected headline of piece to reflect ChatGPT has 700 million weekly users, not daily.

Elon Musk Has Focused on xAI Since Leaving Washington

xAI’s Grok has 64 million monthly users, compared with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has about 700 million weekly users. Musk is currently suing OpenAI and Apple over what he says is unfavorable positioning on the iOS App Store.
Musk wanted Grok to be less woke and more popular, a command that led it to post antisemitic remarks and call itself “MechaHitler.”
Musk plans on building a Microsoft competitor called “Macrohard,” something he said he’s painting on the roof of xAI’s new Memphis data center.
xAI’s execs said after Grok 4, the next model will be called Grok 420.