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Politicians and auto executives on both sides of the Atlantic are calling for more protectionist measures. After Tesla lost its crown to BYD as the world’s biggest E.V. Otherwise, the Tesla C.E.O. said, Chinese E.V. The continent’s auto sector employs 13 million people and generates 8 percent of the bloc’s G.D.P.

Persons: China Tesla, —, Warren Buffett, Tesla, Elon Musk, ” Luca de Meo, Vivienne Walt, DealBook, ”, June’s E.U Organizations: Renault Group’s, Airbus Locations: China, Europe, June’s

☆ The Cost of Nuclear War in Space
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-24 | by ( Ephrat Livni | Vivienne Walt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just before the Russian-Ukrainian war reached its two-year milestone today, U.S. intelligence agencies warned that Russia might aim a nuclear weapon at an unusual target: not any place on Earth, but satellites orbiting in space. It’s also a risk to the space economy — and the one on the ground. There is a little-known but fast-growing industry that insures satellites, but it doesn’t provide insurance against nuclear arms. What’s at stake: hundreds of billions (and probably trillions) of dollars when including the services that rely on satellites, according to David Wade, an underwriter at the Atrium Space Insurance Consortium, which insures satellites for Lloyd’s. The Russian weapon is said to be designed to target satellites in low Earth orbit, where most commercial satellites operate.

Persons: It’s, What’s, David Wade Organizations: Atrium Space Insurance Consortium, NASA Locations: Russian, Russia

☆ The Key Issues for Business in a Likely Trump-Biden Rematch
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Sarah Kessler | Vivienne Walt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After beating Nikki Haley in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Donald Trump reaffirmed his position as the leading candidate to win the Republican nomination. That has business leaders facing the possibility of another Trump presidency, and their investors trying to figure out what it could mean for their bottom lines. During Blackstone’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday, an analyst wanted to know if uncertainty over who would win a likely Biden-Trump matchup could freeze deal flow. (“At the end of the day, do you think he’s going to be more interested in attacking the A.C.A. or something else?” he said of a potential Trump presidency.

Persons: Nikki Haley, Donald Trump, Trump, ”, Jonathan Gray, Ralph Andretta, Jeff Arnold, “, Lori Esposito Murray Organizations: Republican, Biden, Trump, Economic Development, Conference Board Locations: New Hampshire

The annual United Nations climate change conference is underway in Dubai, and swirling around the COP28 negotiations is a complex, acrimonious, international fight over money:How much capital is available to help developing countries transition to renewable energy and cope with extreme weather? And critically, what kinds of interest rates will lenders charge? And yet there is a bedeviling economic paradox inhibiting efforts to create a more sustainable world: It’s relatively easy to find financing for the dirty projects the world needs less of, but maddeningly difficult to finance the clean projects the world needs more of. In the United States, rising interest rates are leading big companies to cancel plans for huge renewable developments. But the disconnect is particularly acute in the developing world, and especially Africa, where many people have little or no access to electricity.

Organizations: United Locations: United Nations, Dubai, United States, Africa

Social media’s antisemitism problemThe rise in antisemitism since the outbreak of war in the Middle East has ignited a clash between Wall Street donors and universities, and divided some workplaces. Now, the pressure is building on social media platforms, particularly Elon Musk’s X and TikTok, with advertisers, celebrities and influencers pulling spending and confronting executives about the proliferation of hate speech. He posted to X his support for white nationalist conspiracy theories that Jewish communities were spreading hatred. Yaccarino was brought in to win back advertisers after Musk bought Twitter last year and culled many content moderators. More than a dozen Jewish celebrities and creators, including the actors Sacha Baron Cohen, Debra Messing and Amy Schumer, confronted TikTok executives this week.

Persons: Elon Musk’s, Adolf Hitler, Musk, X’s, Linda Yaccarino, Yaccarino, “ Linda, ” Martin Sorrell, DealBook, TikTok, Sacha Baron Cohen, Debra Messing, Amy Schumer, “ Hitler, Anne Frank ”, Cohen, ”, Osama bin, bin Laden, —, Alex Haurek, George Santos, Biden, Xi Jinping, Doug McMillon, Walmart’s, “, ” Brian Cornell, ’ Organizations: IBM, Media, America, Nazi Party, Apple, Oracle, Defamation League, Twitter, S4 Capital, House, Big, General Motors, Hyundai, Republican, Justice Department, Business, APEC, West Texas Intermediate, Consumers, Depot, Walmart Locations: TikTok, New York, Hong Kong, China, San Francisco, Beijing, Washington, U.S

(That’s despite Trump being nearly as unpopular and fighting multiple legal battles; he is taking the stand on Monday in one of them. And, on PredictIt, which is watched by political experts, Biden holds a six-point lead on Trump.) Just 2 percent of voters said the economy was excellent, the poll found. Worryingly for Biden, that discontent is being reflected in demographics crucial to his re-election: 48 percent of Black voters in the Times/Siena poll rated the economy as poor, as did 59 percent of voters under 30. Zero respondents in that age group in Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin rated the economy as excellent.

Persons: Biden, Donald Trump, Trump, Worryingly Organizations: Trump, White, Biden, Times Locations: Siena, PredictIt, Arizona , Nevada, Wisconsin

California is taking some of the world’s biggest energy companies, including Shell, Exxon Mobil and Chevron, to court, accusing them of concealing the damage caused by fossil fuels on the state for more than half a century. The strategy has echoes of an earlier fight: states’ legal battle against Big Tobacco in the 1990s. It argues that the oil majors should pay fines for burying scientific evidence linking carbon emissions to greenhouse gases. In the 1990s, California and dozens of other states brought cases against the four biggest U.S. tobacco companies. The companies were also compelled to label cigarettes as potentially lethal, to change how and where they marketed them, and to disband the Tobacco Institute, the industry-funded trade group.

Persons: ” Rob Bonta Organizations: Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Big Oil, Big Tobacco, American Petroleum Institute, Prosecutors, Tobacco Institute Locations: California

As they do every summer, publicly traded companies posted their second-quarter results while Americans were baring their bodies on the beach. But this year, the timing was apt. On several earnings calls in August, chief executives reassured investors that the Ozempic revolution had not left them in the dust, and that they could somehow share in the blazing success of new diabetes and weight loss drugs. “We will continue to study this,” Michael Johnson, the chief executive of the nutritional supplement maker Herbalife, told investors. “And when we see an opportunity to capitalize on it, we will.”In theory, that opportunity — both for making profits and for losing fortunes — could be vast not only for the companies behind these drugs but also for some in completely different industries.

Persons: baring, ”, Dan R, “, ” Michael Johnson, — Locations: Chard

‘An operation of seduction’Just days after the PGA-LIV Golf merger was announced, a contingent of Saudi Arabian investors and power brokers, including the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has converged on France this week looking for more deals with potentially trillions to spend. The “Invest in Saudi” booth at VivaTech — where Elon Musk and the luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault are also on the program — has an outsized presence. Paid for by the Saudi Ministry of Investment, the booth serves as a kind of billboard to announce the country’s ambitions and a way to help its entrepreneurs attract Western investors and prospective business partners, Vivienne Walt writes for DealBook. Badr Al Badr, the deputy minister for investor outreach, told DealBook that Saudi Arabia has about $3.2 trillion to invest by 2030. “That is why there are so many opportunities for investors,” he said.

Persons: Mohammed bin Salman, Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault, Vivienne Walt, DealBook, Prince Mohammed, Badr Al Badr, ” Organizations: LIV, Invest, —, Elon, Saudi Ministry of Investment, PayPal, Electronic Arts Locations: Saudi Arabian, France, Saudi, Badr, Saudi Arabia

Climate investors aren’t expecting a triumphant repeat of what happened two years ago, when Engine No. 1, a San Francisco-based activist hedge fund, stunned the corporate world by landing three of its eco-conscious nominees on Exxon’s board. Mark van Baal, founder of the activist shareholder group Follow This, was more blunt. The hedge fund, he said, was “the biggest disappointment in the fight against climate change.”Engine No. But critics say that green investments are still a tiny percentage of Exxon’s spending, and that the company remains committed to fossil fuels.

Persons: aren’t, DealBook, Vivienne Walt, ”, Mark Kramer, “, Danielle Fugere, Mark van Baal Organizations: Exxon, Legal, General Investment Management, Harvard Business School Locations: San Francisco, Berkeley, Calif, Texas, New Mexico

The annual shareholder meetings of Exxon Mobil and Chevron, scheduled for Wednesday, are set to be largely sedate, as they will be held virtually. Despite the drama, however, climate-focused shareholder activists are being forced to rethink their approach, two years after the tiny hedge fund Engine No. 1 won a stunning victory over Exxon, Vivienne Walt writes for DealBook. Activists have failed to win more than 50 percent in many key proxy votes since then. And it comes despite major investors backing shareholder activists’ efforts: Norway’s $1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund, for instance, has pledged to side with them on climate issues on the ballot at Exxon and Chevron.

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