Alleged Tesla 'Saboteur' Is Just One More Mess to Clean Up
*By Conor White*
Martin Tripp, the former Tesla employee Elon Musk claimed tried to "sabotage" the company, said he was really just acting as a whistleblower.
And if Tripp's allegations are true ー if the company *is* in fact inflating production numbers ー Brian Deagon, senior reporter at Investor's Business Daily, said it could be a disaster for the electric carmaker and its CEO.
"Not meeting \[the\] target would be awful," Deagon explained. "In my interviews with analysts, they have brought up the fact that ー and I don't like using this phrase but ー people are saying, with all the targets that he's missed, he's a liar, he can't be trusted. But the other side of that is, these are his goals that he truly believes in."
Tesla filed a lawsuit against Tripp on Wednesday, claiming he stole "gigabytes" worth of data and made false statements to the media, allegedly in response to being reassigned after job performance problems.
In a statement to CNN later that day, Tripp said the company was using punctured battery cells and had overstated the number of Model 3 vehicles produced in the first quarter.
If that's true, Tesla might be behind in its goal to produce 5,000 of those cars a week by the end of this month. And, Deagon said, missing the target again would not go unnoticed.
"I don't think there's any company that's as closely watched as Tesla," said Deagon. "It has so much to do with Elon Musk, he's such an interesting guy, and Tesla's really trying to revolutionize the car industry by making it all electric."
"With everything Tesla's got going on, and Elon Musk, any distraction is unwanted."
Whether or not Tripp's allegations turn out to be true, damage has already been done. Tesla stock fell nearly 5 percent Tuesday after Musk's sabotage claims and then dropped again on Thursday after Tripp's response to the suit.
*UPDATE: In an email to Cheddar on Friday, Tesla said Tripp is in no way a whistleblower and that he stole information through duplicitous means. The company also said Tripp's claims can be easily disproved.*
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/elon-musk-identifies-his-saboteur).
Wealthfront’s CFO Alan Iberman talks the $2.05B IPO and the major moment for robo banking as the company bets on AI, automation, and “self-driving money."
A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue. Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help businesses integrate AI into daily operations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently emphasized improving ChatGPT, which now has over 800 million weekly users. Despite its success, OpenAI faces competition from companies like Google and concerns about profitability. The company earns money from premium ChatGPT subscriptions but hasn't ventured into advertising. Altman had recently announced delays in developing new products like AI agents and a personal assistant.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
