Who is Elon Musk and what drives him?

The richest man on the planet, Elon Musk, used Tesla and SpaceX to revolutionise cars and rockets. Now, this restless entrepreneur has his eyes on other global problems. But who is Elon Musk and what drives him?

Tesla Stock Up 40% Since May: Why Clean-Energy Shares Are Surging

Shares of clean-energy companies are rising after an 18-month downturn. 

Companies and investors are now watching to see if the rally will help sustain them until climate-law subsidies kick in. 

WSJ climate-finance reporter Amrith Ramkumar joins host Julie Chang to explain how Tesla is leading the surge.

Working for Elon Musk: Ex-Employees Reveal His Management Strategy

“He has never said this, but I’ve watched it. You have 30 seconds to make your point.” 

What Elon Musk has been doing at Twitter since he took over the company isn’t new – he’s used the same management strategies when he took over Tesla and when he founded SpaceX. 

The Wall Street Journal spoke with three former employees to better understand Musk’s management playbook.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Trump, Twitter, Job Cuts, Recession Risks

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk discusses his planned acquisition of Twitter Inc., his view that a US recession is likely, and the outlook for job cuts at Tesla. In an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the Qatar Economic Forum, he also comments on supply constraints and whether he would support Donald Trump in the next US presidential election.

Bitcoin is setting the world on fire

Bitcoin was really hot in 2021, but not the way you might think. 

I'm talking about the massive energy and carbon footprint that has bloomed up as the Bitcoin network continues to grow. We've finally started to pay attention to it in 2021, with Elon Musk calling its energy consumption "insane," and calling into question its usefulness (and interestingly neither Tesla nor Musk have divested themselves of Bitcoin holdings).

It's true that Bitcoin uses an absurd amount of energy, and 2021 was the year that it truly skyrocketed, rising from somewhere around a 77 TWh/year forecast in the beginning of the year to more than 200 TWh/year by December 25. At this point, the Bitcoin network is burning through the same amount of power and fuel as some medium-sized countries, and an individual transaction eats up more power than an average U.S. household uses in 70 days!

Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, need something big, like a transition to proof-of-stake, if they're going to survive a larger global transition to greener energy.

Musk Named Time's Person of the Year After Tesla's Stellar Run

Elon Musk was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year," capping a run during which the head of Tesla Inc. solidified his standing as the world's richest person and turned his onetime electric-vehicle startup into a $1 trillion company.

'Tesla as the World’s Biggest Robot Company' Elon Musk on AI and U.S. Innovation

Watch Tesla CEO Elon Musk in an interview with WSJ’s Joanna Stern at the CEO Council Summit.

Tesla Prepares for Wider Release of Its Driver-Assistance Software

The upgrade to Tesla's Full Self-Driving, or FSD, software will be released to drivers who pass a safety evaluation Tesla is expanding access to the company’s city-driving tool to some customers. In this video, WSJ explains what’s in the new software and the controversy surrounding its limited release. 

 

What China’s New Data Rules Mean for Tesla and Other Auto Makers

China's new rules on auto data require car companies to store important data locally. Cars today offer high-tech features and gather troves of data to train algorithms. As China steps up controls over new technologies, WSJ looks at the risks for Tesla and other global brands that are now required to keep data within the country. Screenshot: Tesla China 

 

Bitcoin Blues

From The Economist

Bitcoin speculators had a jittery week, pushing the cryptocurrency down from a record high. Janet Yellen, America’s treasury secretary, added to the febrile atmosphere when she described bitcoin as an “extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions”. Meanwhile, New York state’s attorney-general branded Tether “fraudulent” and barred the stablecoin—commonly used to buy bitcoin on crypto-exchanges—from trading in New York. Tether long claimed its coin was backed one-to-one by the dollar, but New York concluded that it overstated its reserves and is “a stablecoin without stability”.

The knock to bitcoin was a factor behind a sharp fall in Tesla’s share price. The electric-car maker made a controversial $1.5bn investment in bitcoin recently. Shortly before the cryptocurrency plunged, Elon Musk mused that its price seemed “too high”. The drop in Tesla’s stock at one point wiped $15bn off his fortune.