Why Elon Musk is the world’s greatest chief exec October 3, 2014 Aside from having a name that sounds like an elongated cologne, Elon Musk is a true innovator. Having co-founded PayPal in 1999 before selling it to eBay for $180m, Musk went on to launch Tesla, a company that designs, manufactures and sells electric cars. Founded in 2003 by a bunch of engineers who wanted to [...]
Boeing and SpaceX will share a $6.8bn space taxi Nasa contract September 16, 2014 NASA yesterday revealed Boeing and SpaceX will share a $6.8bn (£4.2bn) contract to fly astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Massive aerospace and defence company Boeing will get $4.2bn from Nasa to use its CST-100 capsule to ferry astronauts to the ISS. Meanwhile SpaceX, founded in 2002 by former Paypal entrepreneur and Tesla Motors [...]
Why shares in Elon Musk’s Tesla dropped 9 per cent yesterday September 16, 2014 For several years now, Tesla and Paypal founder Elon Musk has been able to do no wrong. Having founded the company which is doing for the electronic car what the iPod did for MP3 players, his status has been upgraded from "tech legend" to "tech god" – as shares in his company underwent a similar [...]
Tesla share price climbs as expectations soar August 11, 2014 Tesla looks like breaking its share price record today after Deutsche Bank upgraded its stock rating to buy, from hold. Deutsche joins Morgan Stanley (MS) in giving Tesla a buy rating, with MS putting a stock target of $320. The German bank decided to upgrade Tesla on the basis of its forecasts at the end of [...]
BuzzFeed valued at $850m as company plans international expansion August 11, 2014 BuzzFeed, the viral news and content website famed for its "listicles", has been valued at $850m after it secured $50m of investment from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The online media company currently reaches 150m people a month, has expanded from its New York base to offices in Los Angeles and London, and now [...]
Panasonic joins forces with Tesla for futuristic US battery factory July 31, 2014 Panasonic and US electric car pioneer Tesla Motors yesterday announced joint plans for a groundbreaking lithium-ion battery cell mega-plant. Dubbed “The Gigafactor” – whose location is yet to be decided – it will increase production volume by slashing cost-per-unit figures through economies of scale and improvements in logistical arrangements with suppliers. The announcement builds on [...]
Tesla lands $200m Panasonic investment in Gigafactory deal July 31, 2014 Japan's Panasonic is set to invest over $200m in American electric carmaker Tesla Motors' lithium-ion battery plant in the US, according to a person familiar with the matter. Panasonic had signed a preliminary agreement to be involved in the project back in May. In a joint statement the companies said Tesla would be responsible for [...]
Which books do the giants of business read over the summer? July 29, 2014 You might be surprised how many older volumes make the cut. Most of us look at our summer holiday as reading prime time. Indeed, research from TripAdvisor found that, for nearly one in four of us, it’s the only time we manage to read a book. And even if you read more regularly, a [...]
Longitude Prize: Why open innovation can help us take on antibiotic resistance July 27, 2014 The battle against the bugs has become something of a crusade. A month ago, the public chose the search for an answer to antibiotic resistance as the topic for the 2014 Longitude Prize, a £10m challenge to help solve one of the greatest issues of our time. Recently, David Cameron committed the UK to leading [...]
Review: The astonishing new Tesla Model S July 8, 2014 Some have already judged the first bespoke effort from cutting-edge American electric carmaker Tesla as the second coming of the automobile. But can the Tesla Model S possibly justify the hype? It’s certainly a lot of pressure to heap on a premium executive saloon. Yet Tesla chief executive Elon Musk appears to be one of [...]