Dylan Loomis covers a range of Tesla and Elon Musk related news. He starts with the potential revival of Elon Musk's 2018 pay package, worth approximately $100 billion. A major Delaware law firm, Richards Layton and Finger (RLF), is proposing legislation to amend Delaware corporate law, which could pave the way for Musk to receive his compensation. RLF's president emphasizes the necessity of these changes to maintain Delaware's status as the premier jurisdiction for incorporation. There is bipartisan support for the bill, with endorsements from Delaware's new governor, Matt Meyer, and a desire to fast-track the process, even bypassing the state bar association. The legislation is crucial for Delaware, as incorporation fees and related legal activity generate roughly $2 billion annually, about 40% of the state's budget.
Under the proposed legislation, Musk would no longer be considered a controller of Tesla, easing the review of transactions involving self-dealing. A new fairness test would evaluate transactions, including executive compensation, based on whether the act benefits the corporation and its terms are comparable to arm's length negotiations. The bill also strengthens the legal weight of shareholder ratification, making it harder for courts to overturn decisions approved by a majority of shareholders.
While the bill isn't retroactive and wouldn't directly apply to Musk's case, it could impact Tesla's appeal. The Delaware Supreme Court may be influenced by the changing legal landscape and commentary from business leaders. However, the court is more likely to rule based on the law as it stands and the established facts, particularly the board's lack of independence and a flawed negotiation process. In summary, the bill has a high probability of being approved due to strong support and the need to prevent companies from leaving Delaware. The presenter believes it may not tangibly impact Elon and Tesla's current appeal.
Loomis shifts to other Tesla-related news, which he prefaces with a short advertisement for Saly, an e-SIM service app offering international data plans.
He then discusses the progress of Grok, XAI's AI model, in Tesla vehicles. Chavon Zillis has been testing the voice mode in its early beta stage and it is expected to launch in about a week, but it's awesome. Tesla's voice mode for Grok is expected to be highly anticipated, and it will be able to be used for dictating input and hearing the answers. XAI has also been increasing its compute power, expanding its supercomputer in Memphis to 200,000 GPUs and plans to reach 1 million GPUs in the next phase. This expansion requires Tesla megapacks to handle the power swings, and the expertise gained from this project will benefit Tesla's Cortex supercomputer. Loomis expressed his hopes for a Tesla investment in XAI.
He addresses a lawsuit against Tesla by Granite Vehicle Ventures LLC, accusing Tesla of infringing upon patents related to self-driving vehicles. Tesla is seeking dismissal of most of the lawsuit but is only arguing for dismissal related to claims of two of the three patents in question. The speaker speculates that Tesla may have a different strategy for the remaining patent.
Regarding renewable energy, Spanish power producer Zalestra has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tesla, which is buying 57 megawatts of capacity from Zalestra's upcoming solar projects, demonstrating Tesla's trend of entering PPAs rather than building its own solar farms. Loomis points to updates on Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology, with FSD 13.2.8 rolling out to AI vehicles and 12.6.4 going out to hardware three. He shares positive and humorous clips of FSD driving experiences, acknowledges the need for improvement, and mentions Tesla's hiring of vehicle operators for its autopilot team in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Tesla is also planning to expand its presence in the Indian market, with over 10 job postings for Mumbai. With the reduction of import duties, Tesla may commit to building the next megapack factory in India. In the meantime, the company is preparing for the launch of its new Model Y at Giga Shanghai. As a way of contributing to the world’s renewable resources, The Dutch energy firm return is planning on building a 1.4 gigawatt battery storage facility by 2027, and it will use 372 Tesla megapacks. Production of the new Model Y has officially started at Giga Shanghai.
Tesla is facing another lawsuit where a judge denied Tesla's request to block Matthews International from selling its dry battery electrode technology. This court battle, which has the potential to get ugly, is interesting as Tesla and Matthews have actually collaborated. Lastly, permits are filed for Tesla's first semi charger station to be in South Los Angeles County.