*By Carlo Versano*
Shares of Tesla jumped more than 15 percent in the pre-market Monday on news that CEO Elon Musk settled a lawsuit with the SEC over Musk's social media use.
Under the terms of the settlement, Musk will step down as chairman of Tesla ($TSLA) for at least three years but can remain in the chief executive role. He and the company must each pay $20 million in fines. Two independent board members will also be appointed.
Federal regulators sued Musk last week, arguing that his infamous Aug. 7 "funding secured" tweet amounted to securities fraud. The lawsuit was filed after Musk reportedly scuttled a last-minute deal with the agency under which he would resign as chairman and pay a fine but not admit to any wrongdoing. Talks restarted soon after, and by Saturday a new settlement was in place.
The settlement takes care of one major headache for investors, who will now look to the car maker's third-quarter production and delivery numbers, which may be reported as early as Monday. Musk [reportedly] (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/30/elon-musk-tells-tesla-to-ignore-distractions-hints-at-profitability.html) emailed employees over the weekend, telling them to "ignore all distractions" and that the company was approaching profitability.
The new feature, which is being rolled out in the hardest-hit areas this week, will appear on pages for businesses like restaurants, bars, beauty parlors, and gyms.
If a measure for fossil fuels is included, the groups insist, similar support should be extended to clean energy and electric vehicles, insiders tell Cheddar.
Harnessing the cooling fans from F-150 pickups and the battery packs for its power tools, Ford on Tuesday announced that it will start making sorely-needed ventilators, respirators and medical face masks to help alleviate dire shortages as coronavirus cases surge across the country.
While the spread of the coronavirus has caused millions of layoffs across the country, select businesses are on a hiring spree to meet increased demand related to the outbreak.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Sunday said that his companies are on track to build and ship approximately 1,200 direly-needed ventilators as soon as this week.
The New York Stock Exchange’s famously hectic trading floor was dead quiet this morning as it opened for the first time in its history without traders.
Streaming video companies like YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon have all agreed to reduce the quality of their streaming videos in Europe in order to reduce the strain on Internet bandwidth during the coronavirus pandemic.
GM and Tesla are among the top U.S. automakers that are looking to potentially switch over stalled auto production into the manufacturing of badly needed medical ventilators amid the coronavirus crisis.
Square received conditional approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) late Wednesday to launch an independent bank focused on providing loans to small businesses – at a time when they’ll surely need them most.
The bank will continue to pay branch employees for their regularly scheduled hours even if they are affected by reduced hours, branch closures, or asked to stay home, the letter said. It is also giving branch employees two additional paid vacation days.
