The $22B number comes from the stock market downturn leading to a loss of wealth of $7B for Musk that happened to be on the same day that Slim said they will cancel contracts for an unspecified amount with Starlink and invest $22B into developing their own infrastructure.
Yeah it’s hit the democratic echo chamber pretty hard with no links to a corporate announcement or other actual source. I’m also curious what his actual plans were, given that Starlink is incredibly bad at high urban density broadband. Was this rural solution of some kind?
As a long time Tesla fan its insane what Cybertruck has done to the brand.
My wife has a new Santa Fe and it blows my Model 3 out of the water in terms of tech. Better back up camera, 360 camera, cross traffic alarms, and two stalks on the steering wheel...
Everytime I see the new Model 3 I can't help but imagine how amazing it would have been if they didn't cut so many corners to build the failing Cybertruck.
I never understood why people think Musk is some kind of genius man.
He absolutely is a very good salesman and marketeer but that's about it. Everything he sold that was successful was created by others. The moment he starts to interfere things go wrong. The Cybertruck is a great example.
It is also known that people at SpaceX hate it when he is around telling people what to do because most of it doesn't make sense.
Now he is in politics it becomes clear to a lot of people who he really is. A greedy salesman.
> It is also known that people at SpaceX hate it when he is around telling people what to do because most of it doesn't make sense.
Sounds like he does a bit of Seagull Management[1]. Worked with a founder like this once. Everyone dreaded seeing him around the office, because that meant everyone's work was going to get upended and/or canceled, and we'd be working on something totally different once he articulated his latest fever dream to the engineering team. Then, once the place was in chaos, he'd get in his plane and fly off somewhere until he stopped by again to upend everything.
Not to defend Jobs’ behavior, but it’s hard to deny that he had good taste, clear vision, and immaculate presentation skills. He also showed signs of self-reflection and empathy in his later years. (Musk could never deliver the same kind of college commencement address as him, for example.)
The Cybertruck didn't do anything to the brand, the Cybertruck is a manifestation of the brand. Musk is a visionary who just happened to have a vision that had overlap with the zeitgeist (electric cars in the 2010s) but he is not a savant, most of visions are absolute nonsense, and we're now seeing that play out. The Model 3 is more of an aberration for Musk. The Cybertruck is pure Musk.
It's a near-universal sentiment and based on both.
However, you get major successes by taking risks. Evaluating people and businesses, I do so based on successes and not on failures. The best people (and businesses) I know failed more times than successful ones. Cybertruck was a good try, and it takes a few like that to be successful.
Of the problems I have with Tesla, the Cybertruck is not one of them.
Cybertruck owners, on the other hand, you might as well but a dunce cap and a t-shirt which says "I'm an idiot with too much money."
It's wild when you see these kinds of takes, because ultimately Elon has hired smart people and they would have built a R1T competitor, not the Cybertruck.
The idea of making an electric truck is a GOOD idea, but building one that is completely out of left field in terms of design is NOT. Tesla would have had a majorly successful pickup truck had they just built a normal ass pickup truck.
Acting like this was just some sort of "risk taking seat of the pants" maneuver is just absolving him of responsibility.
Quite literally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Rivian is clearly led by marketing folks who recognized that a successful truck would sacrifice efficiency for looking conventional.
A truly engineering led organization would end up with something like the Tesla & Nikola semi trucks, closer to the ideal teardrop shop that aerodynamics leads to.
It has far less potential to be sold in millions than the Model 3. The cybertruck is built ignoring certification standards in many jurisdictions (no way of legally drive on in Europe). Then the design is super controversial. Compare that to a Model 3 that is sold worldwide and that has a design which is acceptable to many.
Objective metrics have never been the point of SUV-type vehicles. I think the two things that sell them are large and heavy = safe and, uh, the Brawndo factor.
It's clear they burnt through all 1 million pre orders and now you can get them in less than a week. Based on when they reached July 2024 pre-orders and roughly 25k built at the time, it is speculated only 3% of people actually chose to purchase the car, with 97% getting a refund.
Compare that to the ~80% conversion rate of the Model 3 when it launched, it appears the Cybertruck is a massive failure.
Sales seem to have stalled. Q3 2024 was strong, but then dropped off quite dramatically in Q4 2024 with no indication that Q1 2025 will improve, despite price cuts and generous financing deals. Basically there seems to be a small, dedicated, market that loves the Cybertruck, but they've largely all bought one by now, and they're struggling finding new customers.
All that being said I believe the Cybertruck is still the best selling EV pick up on the market, so it's not like the competition is doing any better in this segment.
I found this [0] which claims 39k Cybertrucks sold in all of 2024 vs 33.5k F150s and 11k R1Ts. It also claims 16k Cybertrucks sold in 3Q24, compared to your linked article which claims 7.5k for the same period. So who knows?
You mistake Elon. He's no longer interested in Tesla, and it's 100% clear with where he's spending his time. Tesla is the ladder that got him where he is, and he's fine if that ladder burns now that he's already climbed it.
Brave holding out for the rationals! In hindsight you could have shorted an ice cube in this market and made money. I thought it was likely Trump would fuck the market.
It's very hard to find reliable sources for this story. Lots of news sites that have plausible sounding names, but then turn out to not really be a thing. And nothing at all in the mainstream media I can find.
If you have a link to a real news site carrying this, I'd love to see it, otherwise flagging for now.
In October of last year, América Móvil's CFO, Carlos García Moreno, confirmed during a call with analysts that they were seeking an agreement with SpaceX's Starlink to expand the collaboration between the two companies. If successful, the collaboration agreement will allow Musk's company to connect to América Móvil's main mobile services network, joining the commercial alliance to resell the firm's services that they had previously agreed upon. However, on Monday the Mexican businessman confirmed that these agreements were “pushed back” because they prefer to invest in their own infrastructure to offer this type of services. “It is better to put our own towers, plants and the optical fiber that links them,” he said.
It's based on a Feb 10th interview as part of the América Móvil Q4 presentations and "going forward" annoumcements conference, more details emerged on the 12th.
The best you'll get, outside of the shareholder webcasts, is, say:
But the prospects of this type of collaboration with América Móvil, announced in October 2024, were put on hold. Carlos Slim, honorary president of the company, said that the alliance with Musk “is going backwards.”
“It is better to put our towers, plants and optical fiber to link them,” said the business magnate in his press conference held on February 10.
Two days later, Daniel Hajj, CEO of América Móvil, confirmed the decision in a conference call with analysts, where he announced an investment of 22 billion dollars over the next three years to expand its infrastructure. With this move, the possibility of a collaboration with SpaceX was ruled out.
Hajj clarified that América Móvil does not work with any satellite company on messaging services and that they are only evaluating the viability of the satellite for coverage in rural areas.
“We are still reviewing whether that service makes sense for us. But, for now, we do not have any ongoing negotiations with satellite companies,” he said on the call with analysts on the fourth quarter 2024 financial results.
But it's all speculative w/out details - AM may or may not actually invest $22 billion, whatever they invest may or may not go with Starlink, this may or may not be a play to get a better deal.
Canada cancelled a $100M Starlink deal. So $22B also seems like an extreme amount.
Other news sites say Slim was willing to invest 22B in better communications. So maybe Starlink was a part of this investment but I have a hard time believing Musk lost a $22B deal.
I suppose those news are more of interest to the global south communities which is why western media don’t report on this (but that’s speculation on my part, since the news are indeed huge) - here’s an article from an Indian financial newspaper: https://www.livemint.com/companies/carlos-slim-cuts-ties-wit...
> In the US, lately, he has been heading up a “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) initiative — not an actual government department, of course, since that has to be created by Congress
US Digital Service was renamed
So an existing agency was renamed by the executive
I mean it's right? He cannot create it, and the way he went about it might not be legal either. It was very odd.
The EO renamed USDS, to DOGE, but USDS still exists, and then created an organization under USDS called DOGE. But that the DOGE organization doesn't report to USDS, but to a new USDS administrator just for DOGE.
It just renamed the D to be another acronym that starts with D, so not even a real rename. Mentions where the administrator will work, which is within the purview of the Executive - any agency can be administered directly except independent ones. And says they are still doing IT work, which is within Congress’ mandate.
What’s written on paper there is all compliant.
Everyone should read it for themselves before turning that specific verbaige into an amateurish partisan thing. Anything you don’t like here has to be taken up with Congress because they delegated all that authority eons ago.
If 22 Billion was being dropped off the table, you can be sure everyone would be all over this and covering every angle of it. Those "mainstream" media companies have the resources to follow up on a story like that.
This link seems to be a bit flimsy at best and they're referencing eachother as sources. This is why the "mainstream" media get paid the big bucks, they actually do a somewhat thorough job whether you trust them or not.
> Slim has a fascinating history. I see nothing there about drug cartels. [..]
Well, that's a bit of a naive take.
You're not going to do business in a cartel/mafia infested area and not have to deal with them. In the same way that a construction company in Naples is going to get a friendly visit at some point. Or in the way a forest keeper in Romania or Bulgaria will also be reminded of what is good for them and their family. (As experienced repeatedly by the brother of a friend)
The US has irrevocably lost its good will it built since ww2. Musk just lit a fire to the great brands he built. He had a really long leash because of how successful he was but he used all of it. The administration and musk is the best thing that could have happened to china.
Which cites this: https://www.milenio.com/
Which is just a home page.
Anyone got an actual source on this?