Camelot Newsletter

Tesla lays off 10% of its workforce, it’s stock down 37% for the year, while Elon demands $56 billion pay package

Tesla has once again urged its shareholders to approve Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package, framing it as a restoration of "shareholder democracy." This call comes after a judge in January rejected the package, describing the compensation as an "unfathomable sum" and criticizing Tesla's process for determining it as "deeply flawed." Despite this, Tesla argues that 73% of shareholders previously approved the plan and points out that Musk has not received payment for his work at Tesla since 2018, the year the package was initially proposed. This would be the largest executive pay package ever if approved.

Let’s call it out here - these board members are two things 1: friends and pals of Musk who have either done Ketamine with him or turned a blind eye to his extensive and regular drug use or 2: so afraid that if they stand up to him he will act like a volatile child and destroy the company for no other reason than unfettered rage and impotence, in which case everybody loses billions. They really have no other choice here, do they?

I will say though, the audacity is rather impressive. To ask for a raise when you just laid off 10% of the workforce and deliveries are down 9% for the same Q last year, and as of 4.17.24 the stock price is down 37% for the year. Yikes.

Pay Up - no really, pay up ⬆️ 

Recently, it was reported that the Justice Department has agreed to pay around $100 million to the victims of Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor. While the agreement is still pending finalization, it is intended to settle claims related to the FBI’s failure to adequately investigate allegations of abuse made by the athletes.

In 2022, Simone Biles and other members of the USA Gymnastics national team, along with many of Nassar's patients, filed a lawsuit against the FBI for not properly handling the abuse allegations. The claims focus on a 15-month period when FBI agents in Indianapolis and Los Angeles had knowledge of allegations against Nassar but apparently took no action, beginning all the way back in 2015. The Justice Department inspector general confirmed “fundamental errors.”

“I’m sorry that so many different people let you down, over and over again,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told survivors at a Senate hearing in 2021. “And I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed.”

IMO: The number is not nearly enough.

Michigan State University, which was also accused of missing chances over many years to stop Nassar, agreed to pay $500 million to more than 300 women and girls who were assaulted. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee made a $380 million settlement.

What these women went through will send trauma rippling through generations. The justice department failed miserably here and should be liable for an amount that forces them to do better moving forward.

In other news…

• Ever wanted to trade stocks like you had a secret line to the White House, and make millions on insider trading like Nancy Pelosi!? Well now you can! Autopilot is an investment app that enables investors to trade the portfolios of famous politicians like Nancy Pelosi and (legitimate) investment managers like Warren Buffett. God I love technology.

• Meta released a new ai assistant that is being put everywhere including Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook. I will be experimenting with it and giving some thoughts in next week’s news drop.

• Update on the TikTok Ban: A law banning China-owned TikTok grew more likely, because it was hitched to an aid bill for Ukraine and Israel set for a Saturday vote. There are high odds on the ban going to the Senate next week, and then the White House for signing.

  
  Dubbed the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the House TikTok bill would create a process for the president — through the FBI and intelligence agencies — to designate certain social media applications under the control of foreign adversaries, like China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, as national security threats.
  
  What this means: It would extend the timeline for ByteDance to sell TikTok from 6 months to roughly a year. Reading between the lines; no one has to enforce the ban until after the election. So no one has to incur the wrath of the Tik Tok beauty influencers yet. 💅 
  

Turkeys and Angels

Every week brings new and exciting antics! Here I nominate one Turkey; a squawky or nefarious critter deserving of the “You are a Turkey” moniker. Because we must always bring balance to the force, an Angel will additionally be recognized for bringing laughter, love or all around goodness to the world.

This week’s Turkey: The idea that water without cancer causing chemicals will cost more - for underprivileged communities specifically

California regulators (these are not the turkeys, these be the good guys) voted Wednesday to establish a drinking water limit on hexavalent chromium, a toxic chemical compound made infamous by the movie “Erin Brockovich.” More than 200 million Americans are estimated to have the chemical compound in their drinking water. The rule is the first in the nation to specifically target the heavy metal, known as chromium-6, and is expected to reduce the number of cancer and kidney disease cases from long-term ingestion, state officials say.

Some public water providers warned (this is them, the 🦃 🦃 )that with the new standard customers will pay more for water and the financial burden will disproportionately fall on disadvantaged communities.

This is honestly insane to me. This is the United States of America. We might not always agree on complex policy issues but healthy water for everyone should be a basic right, not a luxury. We are not asking for Fiji spring water here, just ya know, water without cancer causing chemicals.

This week’s Angel: Don Beyer, the 73 year old congressman who went back to school to learn about AI 👏 

“When questions about regulating artificial intelligence emerged, the 73-year-old Beyer took what for him seemed like an obvious step, enrolling at George Mason University to get a master’s degree in machine learning.”

In an era when lawmakers are so ill equipped, yet empowered, to make decisions on this transformative technology, this is a brilliant example of a man engaging with the future and honoring his responsibility to make informed decisions.

Albert Einstein once said, "Once you stop learning, you start dying." So let’s keep learning and living!