*By Michael Teich*
Tesla's Model 3 Performance vehicle is bad news for the company's haters, said Wall Street Journal auto columnist Dan Neil.
"Tesla runs their company in a different way, and it drives people crazy. But you can't argue with the results," Neil told Cheddar in an interview Friday.
Earlier this year, CEO Elon Musk announced the high-performance Model 3 Performance vehicle on Twitter. According to Musk, the dual-motor, all-wheel drive car "will beat anything in its class on the track." Neil was the first person to test drive it, and he was thoroughly impressed.
"This thing is magnificent, a little rainbow-farting space ship," he said in his review. "They have a schedule of innovation ahead of them."
Sans additions, the base price of the Tesla Model 3 Performance is $64,000, but it may sell for $78,000 with certain upgrades. The car is advertised with a 0 to 60 mph acceleration time of 3.5 seconds.
Whether reviews of the souped-up version will make up for recent struggles at Tesla remains to be seen. Many Wall Street analysts have grown skeptical of the company's capacity to meet expectations for even the regular version of the Model 3, which is supposed to cost as little as $35,000, though that configuration isn't available yet. And CEO Elon Musk's latest [blunders](https://money.cnn.com/2018/07/17/technology/elon-musk-twitter-investors/index.html) on Twitter aren't helping. Even if Tesla overcomes the hurdles of production, investment bank Needham says consumers are losing patience: the analyst estimates that about one in every four Model 3 orders is canceled, about twice the rate of late year's reports.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/behind-the-wheel-of-the-tesla-model-3-performance-vehicle)
Food delivery giant DoorDash is acquiring European food delivery company Wolt. The all-stock deal is valued at $8.1 billion and is expected to close in the first half of 2022. The companies say they share a mission to build a global delivery platform. Gerber Kawasaki investment advisor Eva Agi joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss what the deal means for Doordash, as well as its customers and investors.
Identity verification startup Socure recently raised $450 million dollars in a series E round, bringing the company's valuation to $4.5 billion. Socure says it is now the highest-valued private company in the identity verification space, and that the funds will be used to accelerate its mission to verify 100% of good identities and eliminate identity fraud across all industries. Socure Founder and CEO Johnny Ayers joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
With more companies offering employees flexibility in work schedules, Airbnb is looking to accommodate flexible travel plans. Chief Strategy Officer Nathan Blecharczyk joined Cheddar to discuss the growing trend of people staying in Airbnbs for longer periods of time. "In December over the holidays, in North America, we are seeing a 68 percent increase in the demand for month-long stays relative to years past," he said.
Coinbase reported third quarter earnings yesterday and revenue did not at all meet estimates, with the company saying that it also saw a staggering decrease of about 1.4 million customers in comparison to the previous quarter. This comes in the same week where bitcoin and ethereum, two of its most important digital assets hit record highs. Martin Gaspar, research analyst at CrossTower explains how a soft crypto trading quarter contributed to the less-than-ideal revenue outcome.
John Jannarone, Editor-In-Chief at IPOedge.com, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Riivian ahead of its public debut on the Nasdaq, as investors gear up for the biggest IPO for a U.S. company since Facebook.
Iran is continuing to crack down on illicit bitcoin mining in the Islamic Republic after 227 mining rigs were seized. Businesses looking to run legal bitcoin mining operations have had to seek approval since 2019.
DoorDash is set to acquire European-based food delivery company Wolt in an $8.1 billion deal. Ann Berry, chief investment officer at media platform Wheelhouse, joined Cheddar to discuss how this positions DoorDash in the prepared food and potentially the grocery delivery space. "I do think that what DoorDash is trying to be thoughtful about now is how to take that there's been a shift in consumer behavior in terms of mobile ordering and delivery and try and apply it to other categories," she said, also pointing to its partnership with beauty supply company Ulta.
The Biden Administration has issued a new order aimed at all federal agencies which would order them to patch hundreds of cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Chief Evangelist at Intrusion Gary Davis and Chief Security Advisor at SentinelOne Morgan Wright, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
