The mercurial and Twitter-obsessed Tesla ($TSLA) CEO changed his handle overnight to "Elon Tusk" with an elephant emoji, and tweeted that there would be "some Tesla news" coming at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
A master of capturing media attention, Musk could be teasing a gimmicky Tesla feature, à la "Dog Mode," that would deflect some of the scrutiny he is once again under for tangling with the SEC over its regulatory practices. Or he could make a more serious announcement related to Model 3 production targets, or even how the company plans to pay off a $920 million convertible bond due on the first of the month.
The point is: no one knows ー and that's the problem. Earlier this week the SEC complained that Musk should be held in contempt for continuing to tweet market-moving investor information without prior sign-off from Tesla lawyers, which was part of Musk's settlement agreement with the agency.
That became infinitely more difficult when the company's general counsel quit last week after just two months.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
Universal Music Group and AI platform Udio have settled a copyright lawsuit and will collaborate on a new music creation and streaming platform. The companies announced on Wednesday that they reached a compensatory legal settlement and new licensing agreements. These agreements aim to provide more revenue opportunities for Universal's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the music streaming industry, leading to accusations from record labels. This deal marks the first since Universal and others sued Udio and Suno last year. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
