A disgruntled Tesla employee broke into the company’s manufacturing operating system and sent highly sensitive data to unknown third parties, according to an email Elon Musk sent to staff.
The worker, who had been denied a promotion, did “quite extensive and damaging sabotage” to Tesla’s operations, Musk wrote in the memo late Sunday, which was reported in full by CNBC. While a spokesman declined to comment, an employee who asked not to be identified confirmed he received the email.
Tesla is conducting an in-depth investigation into the matter, including whether the employee was acting alone, with others at the company or with any outside organisations, Mr Musk wrote.
“As you know, there are a long list of organisations that want Tesla to die,” Musk said. He referenced Wall Street short sellers “who have already lost billions of dollars,” oil and gas companies that “don’t love” to see solar power and electric cars advancing, and automakers that produce gasoline and diesel vehicles. “If they’re willing to cheat so much about emissions, maybe they’re willing to cheat in other ways?” he said.
Mr Musk’s email about sabotage comes as Teslaraces to ramp up production of its mission critical Model 3 sedan to 5,000 cars a week. Last week, Mr Musk announced that he was reorganising the company and reducing Tesla’s workforce by 9 per cent in a bid for profitability. More than 3,000 workers lost their jobs, and Tesla’s WARN notice filed with the state of California revealed that over 500 employees in Fremont and Palo Alto were dismissed.
A day later, Musk invoked a late tech titan in urging workers to keep an eye out for any funny business after a fire briefly halted car output. In a “strange incident that was hard to explain,” Mr Musk wrote that a small fire on a manufacturing line had stopped production for several hours.
“Could just be a random event, but as Andy Grove said, ‘Only the paranoid survive,’” Mr Musk wrote Monday, referring to the late chairman and CEO of Intel. “Please be on the alert for anything that’s not in the best interests of our company.”
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Read more:
Tesla to axe almost 10 per cent of workforce
Musk says confident about Tesla achieving next production goal for Model 3
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Tesla can ill afford manufacturing setbacks now. It’s racing to meet a target to build 5,000 Model 3 sedans a week by the end of this month, a goal Mr Musk told shareholders on June 5 that the company was “quite likely” to achieve. The company’s forecasts for generating profit and cash in the third and fourth quarters of this year are based on this objective, and falling short would reignite concerns about whether the company may need to raise more capital.
A Tesla spokeswoman confirmed the authenticity of the Monday email, which CNBC reported first. Smoldering in an air filter in the welding area of Tesla’s body line was extinguished in a matter of seconds, she said. Production has resumed and there were no injuries or significant equipment damage, she added.
Tesla shares climbed for a seventh straight day, adding 3.5 per cent to $370.83 on Monday. More than $19 billion has been added to the automaker’s market capitalisation in the past month, in part due to Musk’s confidence at the annual shareholders’ meeting that the Model 3 would meet production targets. In a tweet Sunday, Mr Musk warned that those betting against the company "have about three weeks before their short position explodes."
Tesla is no stranger to concerns about sabotage. A former oil services executive named Todd Katz was sued by Tesla in 2016 impersonating Mr Musk in an email to former Tesla CFO Jason Wheeler. In the lawsuit, Tesla said the email was part of an oil-industry effort to undermine the company’s push for energy-efficient transportation alternatives.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Enterprise-grade%20security%20and%20privacy%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Unlimited%20higher-speed%20GPT-4%20access%20with%20no%20caps%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Longer%20context%20windows%20for%20processing%20longer%20inputs%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Advanced%20data%20analysis%20capabilities%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Customisation%20options%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Shareable%20chat%20templates%20that%20companies%20can%20use%20to%20collaborate%20and%20build%20common%20workflows%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Analytics%20dashboard%20for%20usage%20insights%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%E2%80%A2%20Free%20credits%20to%20use%20OpenAI%20APIs%20to%20extend%20OpenAI%20into%20a%20fully-custom%20solution%20for%20enterprises%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Sri Lanka squad for tri-nation series
Angelo Mathews (c), Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Janith Perera, Thisara Perera, Asela Gunaratne, Niroshan Dickwella, Suranga Lakmal, Nuwan Pradeep, Dushmantha Chameera, Shehan Madushanka, Akila Dananjaya, Lakshan Sandakan and Wanidu Hasaranga
The biog
Name: Salem Alkarbi
Age: 32
Favourite Al Wasl player: Alexandre Oliveira
First started supporting Al Wasl: 7
Biggest rival: Al Nasr
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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%3Cp%3E%0D%3Cstrong%3ELittle%20notes%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMy%20girls%20often%20find%20a%20letter%20from%20me%2C%20with%20a%20joke%2C%20task%20or%20some%20instructions%20for%20the%20afternoon%2C%20and%20saying%20what%20I%E2%80%99m%20excited%20for%20when%20I%20get%20home.%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPhone%20call%20check-in%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMy%20kids%20know%20that%20at%203.30pm%20I%E2%80%99ll%20be%20free%20for%20a%20quick%20chat.%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EHighs%20and%20lows%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EInstead%20of%20a%20%E2%80%9Chow%20was%20your%20day%3F%E2%80%9D%2C%20at%20dinner%20or%20at%20bathtime%20we%20share%20three%20highlights%3B%20one%20thing%20that%20didn%E2%80%99t%20go%20so%20well%3B%20and%20something%20we%E2%80%99re%20looking%20forward%20to.%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EI%20start%2C%20you%20next%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EIn%20the%20morning%2C%20I%20often%20start%20a%20little%20Lego%20project%20or%20drawing%2C%20and%20ask%20them%20to%20work%20on%20it%20while%20I%E2%80%99m%20gone%2C%20then%20we%E2%80%99ll%20finish%20it%20together.%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBedtime%20connection%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EWake%20up%20and%20sleep%20time%20are%20important%20moments.%20A%20snuggle%2C%20some%20proud%20words%2C%20listening%2C%20a%20story.%20I%20can%E2%80%99t%20be%20there%20every%20night%2C%20but%20I%20can%20start%20the%20day%20with%20them.%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EUndivided%20attention%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EPutting%20the%20phone%20away%20when%20I%20get%20home%20often%20means%20sitting%20in%20the%20car%20to%20send%20a%20last%20email%2C%20but%20leaving%20it%20out%20of%20sight%20between%20home%20time%20and%20bedtime%20means%20you%20can%20connect%20properly.%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EDemystify%2C%20don%E2%80%99t%20demonise%20your%20job%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EHelp%20them%20understand%20what%20you%20do%2C%20where%20and%20why.%20Show%20them%20your%20workplace%20if%20you%20can%2C%20then%20it%E2%80%99s%20not%20so%20abstract%20when%20you%E2%80%99re%20away%20-%20they%E2%80%99ll%20picture%20you%20there.%20Invite%20them%20into%20your%20%E2%80%9Cother%E2%80%9D%20world%20so%20they%20know%20more%20about%20the%20different%20roles%20you%20have.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
HOW TO WATCH
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JAPAN SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Sho Sasaki, Hiroki Sakai, Sei Muroya, Genta Miura, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Midfielders: Toshihiro Aoyama, Genki Haraguchi, Gaku Shibasaki, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Shoya Nakajima, Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita, Ritsu Doan
Forwards: Yuya Osako, Takuma Asano, Koya Kitagawa
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Grubtech
Founders: Mohamed Al Fayed and Mohammed Hammedi
Launched: October 2019
Employees: 50
Financing stage: Seed round (raised $2 million)
