Tesla Passes Facebook To Become Fifth Most Valuable US Company

Electric vehicle maker Tesla surpassed Facebook by market capitalization after markets opened Friday. From a report: Tesla’s stock jumped about 5.5% at 9:03 a.m. ET to give it a market cap of $802.6 billion, while Facebook stock dipped. Facebook now has a market cap of about $755.8 billion. The jump makes Elon Musk’s automotive venture the fifth biggest company in the…

Elon Musk is Now the Richest Person in the World

Elon Musk just became the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion. From a report: Thursday’s increase in Tesla’s share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and is currently worth about $184 billion. Musk’s wealth surge over the past year marks the fastest rise to the…

Will There Be a Commercial Replacement for the International Space Station?

“Axiom Space has announced that it is creating an office park and manufacturing center at the Houston SpacePort at Ellington Field,” notes an opinion piece for The Hill by Houston-based space writer Mark R. Whittington. “The development is a hopeful sign that, despite foot dragging by Congress, a commercial replacement for the International Space Station may well happen.”
The United States has…

‘Companies Are Fleeing California. Blame Bad Government.’

Bloomberg Editorial Board: Amid raging wildfires, rolling blackouts and a worsening coronavirus outbreak, it has not been a great year for California. Unfortunately, the state is also reeling from a manmade disaster: an exodus of thriving companies to other states. In just the past few months, Hewlett Packard Enterprise said it was leaving for Houston. Oracle said it would decamp for…

SpaceX Will Attempt To Recover Super Heavy Rocket by Catching it With Launch Tower

SpaceX will try a significantly different approach to landing its future reusable rocket boosters, according to CEO and founder Elon Musk. It will attempt to ‘catch’ the heavy booster, which is currently in development, using the launch tower arm used to stabilize the vehicle during its pre-takeoff preparations. From a report: Current Falcon 9 boosters return to Earth and land propulsively…

Tesla To Make India Debut ‘Early’ Next Year

Tesla will begin its operations in India “early” 2021, a top Indian minister said on Monday, a day after the tech carmaker said it was confident it would enter the world’s second most populated market next year. From a report: The American car company will begin operations with sales in early 2021 and then “maybe” look at assembling and manufacturing of…

Volkswagen CEO Says Apple Can Mount Major Challenge With Auto Push

Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess said cash-rich technology giants invading the auto industry pose a much bigger challenge for the German manufacturer than traditional rivals like Toyota Motor. From a report: “We look forward to new competitors who will certainly accelerate the change in our industry and bring in new skills,” Diess said in a LinkedIn post when asked…

Elon Musk Says He Once Considered Selling Tesla To Apple, Tim Cook Didn’t Want To Take a Meeting

On Tuesday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that he considered selling his electric car company to Apple in recent years, but Apple CEO Tim Cook was not even interested in taking a meeting. CNBC reports: Specifically, Musk wrote in a tweet on December 22: “During the darkest days of the Model 3 program, I reached out to Tim Cook to discuss…

Elon Musk Says Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Subscription Arrives In Early 2021

Yesterday, Elon Musk told Twitter followers that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving subscription rollout will arrive “early next year.” Engadget reports: In theory, you could add the autonomous (currently semi-autonomous) features without a steep up-front cost in a matter of months. You might not want to plan your schedule around that timetable. Tesla previously hoped to offer a Full Self-Driving subscription by the…

Lockheed Martin Acquires Aerojet Rocketdyne For $4.4 Billion

Lockheed Martin has agreed to buy Aerojet Rocketdyne for $4.4 billion in cash (including assumed debt). From a report: This reflects how legacy defense companies are racing to keep up with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos in space, a dynamic that also helped drive Raytheon’s merger effort with United Technologies. Plus, this is the exact type of company that will be…