*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.
Facebook's latest scandal has raised serious questions about founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's oversight of the troubled media giant.
Following an impressive quarterly earnings report, Sonos VP of corporate finance Mike Groeninger told Cheddar about the company's ambitions to move outside the home and become the "world's leading sound experience company."
In a conference call with reporters on Thursday that lasted more than 80 minutes, Mark Zuckerberg declared that an extensive New York Times report about his company's insufficient and self-preserving response to Russian meddling on the platform was "simply untrue."
The New York Times published a bombshell report Wednesday evening detailing how Facebook has navigated public scandals and attacked its critics over the past few years. The stock moved lower Thursday on the news.
With an increasing number of mobility options, putting an end to distracted driving is more urgent than ever. Ryan Luckey, assistant vice president of brand marketing at AT&T, told Cheddar about AT&T's partnership with e-scooter company Bird to keep distracted drivers ー and scooter riders ー off the roads.
The FDA is moving forward with its proposal to restrict sales of most flavored e-cigarettes including popular brand Juul.
Uber released financial statements on Wednesday showing slowed growth and greater losses while the company continues to invest in food delivery, freight, and electric bikes.
Ford and Walmart envision a world in which products are delivered straight to customers' doors ー no driver required. The two titans of industry are teaming up along with Postmates to explore delivery via self-driving cars in Miami-Dade County, Fla.
The former president of Pinterest has a new mission to curb tech addiction. Tim Kendall left his perch as the top business chief of the $12 billion company one year ago and is now the CEO of Moment, a mobile app that aims to teach people how to reduce their phone use.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) spoke with Cheddar's J.D. Durkin about Amazon's move to Crystal City and what it means for the people of Virginia. "This is both going to be an economic driver and, frankly, put this region more on the map as a tech headquarters," Warner told Cheddar.
