*By Conor White*
Tesla investors are evidently relieved to have resolution on Elon Musk. On news of the CEO's deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission, shares were up more than 15 percent in early trading Monday.
News of a settlement may give shareholders hope that the company can now refocus on more important issues ー namely its production problems.
"Number one, is Model 3 production hell, which they're still not totally out of," Verge reporter Sean O'Kane said Monday in an interview on Cheddar.
The electric car maker might be getting close, though. [According to a report](https://electrek.co/2018/10/01/tesla-production-record-q3-deliveries-crazier/) from Electrek, Tesla ($TSLA) produced around 80,000 vehicles in Q3, including 53,000 Model 3s. That would be a 187 percent increase over Q2. The company could report official numbers as soon as Monday afternoon.
Of course, there are other issues hanging over the company, starting with who will succeed Musk as chairman. According to Saturday's settlement with the SEC, the billionaire founder will be able to remain on as CEO and as a company director, but will cede the chairman role for three years.
"Whoever comes in as chairman, it's going to be really interesting to see how much pressure they apply," O'Kane said.
The latest drama stems from the now-infamous Aug. 7 tweet that Musk had "funding secured" to take his company private. The SEC launched an investigation shortly after and charged the CEO last week with fraud, alleging he misled investors. Musk and Tesla will also both have to pay $20 million in fines, and Musk will be required to have his tweets reviewed by lawyers whenever he mentions the company.
John Reed Stark, president of John Reed Stark Consulting and a long-time SEC attorney, told Cheddar Monday that the agency is sending a clear message about Twitter to every public company.
"With this action, they've essentially told every executive out there, don't do it."
Stark, who spent 11 years as the chief of the SEC Office of Internet Enforcement, said the agency isn't trying to muzzle any executives, but rather wants to ensure the information they're conveying is wholly accurate.
"They just want when anybody at a company speaks to speak truthfully, and fully, and fulsomely, and in a robust manner," he said.
"And they want them to update and correct when they say something that's wrong."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/settlement-secured).
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
Nvidia reported a 56% increase in second-quarter revenue and a 59% rise in net income compared to a year ago.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos claims audiences don't want to watch Netflix movies in theaters, but that seems not to be the case recently.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
