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☆ Delaware Judge Questions Tesla About Vote on Elon Musk’s Tesla Pay
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-02 | by ( Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Delaware judge on Friday questioned lawyers for Tesla about why the company asked shareholders to vote on a $55 billion pay package for its chief executive, Elon Musk, after she had struck it down in January. The judge, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery, noted at a hearing in Wilmington that there was no legal precedent for the company’s decision, which led to an overwhelming shareholder vote in favor of the compensation package in June. “This has never been done before,” she said in an exchange with a lawyer representing Mr. Musk and Tesla’s directors. “There is no Delaware law on this, correct?”The lawyer, David E. Ross, acknowledged there was no exact precedent for having shareholders overturn a judge’s decision in similar cases. But he asserted that the June vote showed that Tesla’s shareholders were willing to award Mr. Musk the package even after being provided a lot more information about how it had been devised.

Persons: Tesla, Elon Musk, Chancellor Kathaleen St, J . McCormick, ”, David E, Ross Organizations: Chancery Locations: Delaware, Wilmington, “

☆ Elon Musk Says Robotaxis Are Tesla’s Future. Experts Have Doubts.
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-29 | by ( Jack Ewing | Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In Mr. Musk’s telling, one of Tesla’s main A.I.-based businesses will be driverless taxis, or robotaxis, that can operate pretty much anywhere and in any condition. Tesla is very close to perfecting such vehicles and will easily secure regulatory approval to put them on roads, Mr. Musk said last week on a conference call to discuss the company’s second quarter results. Mr. Musk’s vision of autonomous vehicles, or A.V.s, is not limited to cars that drive themselves. He has also claimed that individuals who buy Teslas would be able to make money when they are asleep or at work by letting the company use their cars as robotaxis. The robotaxi service will, Mr. Musk has said, catapult Tesla’s stock market valuation, around $700 billion now, into the trillions of dollars.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk’s, Tesla, Musk Organizations: Wall

The National Transportation Safety Board issued a series of recommendations on Tuesday aimed at preventing the type of freight train derailment that occurred last year in East Palestine, Ohio, when 38 rail cars operated by Norfolk Southern came off the tracks. The safety agency also faulted Norfolk Southern for concluding that the hazardous material being transported on 11 of the rail cars was at risk of exploding. That conclusion led to a “vent and burn,” in which toxic chemicals were released and incinerated, resulting in vast plumes of dark smoke rising above the town. The controlled burn forced many residents of the town to evacuate. had previously raised doubts about the need for a vent and burn and at a meeting in East Palestine on Tuesday, the agency said the railway had “misinterpreted and disregarded evidence” in reaching that conclusion.

Persons: Norfolk Southern Organizations: Transportation Safety, Norfolk, Norfolk Southern Locations: East Palestine , Ohio, East Palestine

☆ Tesla Shareholders Approve Big Stock Package for Musk
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Jack Ewing | Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Tesla shareholders have reaffirmed a pay award of more than $45 billion for Elon Musk, the chief executive, after it was thrown out in a legal challenge. The vote result, announced at Tesla’s annual meeting at its headquarters in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, is a strong sign that shareholders still believe in Mr. Musk, and it could persuade the judge who voided the award to reinstate it. Support for the pay award, made up of stock options, will come as a relief to Mr. Musk’s admirers, who feared that rejection would prompt him to spend less time managing Tesla or even quit. The vote was a setback for investors who had hoped it would send a message about the accountability of chief executives and the limits of executive pay. The outcome may also help Mr. Musk qualify as the world’s richest person, worth well over $200 billion.

Persons: Elon Musk Organizations: Elon Locations: Austin , Texas

☆ Tesla Share Price Is Its Own Referendum on Musk
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Peter Eavis | Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Tesla shareholder vote over Elon Musk’s pay is in some ways a referendum on the performance of the company and its chief executive. Late on Wednesday, Mr. Musk claimed victory in a social media post, saying that votes in favor of his pay package were leading by “wide margins,” giving Tesla’s stock a boost. But even before the official results are announced on Thursday, Tesla’s flagging stock price shows that investors have plenty of doubts about Mr. Musk and the electric carmaker’s outlook. Tesla’s shares are down nearly 30 percent this year, even as the broader stock market is up 14 percent. At its peak in 2021, the stock market value of Tesla was $1.2 trillion, putting it in the company of tech giants like Microsoft, Apple and Google.

Persons: Musk, Tesla, Price Organizations: Elon, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Visa, Walmart

☆ Tesla Investors to Decide if Musk Deserves $45 Billion Payday
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-12 | by ( Jack Ewing | Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Under Elon Musk’s leadership, Tesla popularized electric vehicles and became the most valuable auto company in the world. Mr. Musk became a billionaire many times over while generating huge profits for investors. Even so, Tesla’s shareholders may decide this week that Mr. Musk has been paid too much. With it, he is probably the richest person in the world, worth well over $200 billion. She ruled that Mr. Musk had largely dictated the terms to a board of directors stacked with close friends, people he made rich and his brother.

Persons: Tesla, Musk, Jeff Bezos Organizations: Elon Musk’s, Amazon, Shareholders Locations: Delaware

Frank’s Bay Tavern in the neighborhood of South Baltimore — house cocktail: the grain alcohol Bay Slinger — has been hit hard by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. Dockworkers who once stopped in for a beer after crossing the bridge are taking other routes home, said Karen Zapushek, who runs the bar with her husband, Frank. Customers are also staying away, she said, because many more trucks are barreling past the bar, making the street outside, with its narrow sidewalks, feel even more dangerous. “We already had a problem with traffic in our community — and it’s just been really increased with the Key Bridge being down,” Ms. Zapushek said, adding that sales had plunged 40 percent since the bridge fell. “It’s really bad.”

Persons: Francis Scott Key, Dockworkers, Karen Zapushek, Frank, ” Ms, Zapushek, “ It’s, ” Locations: South Baltimore

☆ The Delivery Business Shows Why Unions Are Struggling to Expand
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-27 | by ( Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last year, two unions representing workers at three large automakers and UPS negotiated new labor contracts that included big raises and other gains. Leaders of the unions — the United Automobile Workers and the Teamsters — hoped the wins would help them organize workers across their industry. The Teamsters have made even less progress at UPS’s big nonunion rivals in the delivery business, Amazon and FedEx. Polling shows that public support for unions is the highest it has been in decades. Many of the workers doing deliveries for Amazon and FedEx work for contractors, typically small and medium-size businesses that can be hard to organize.

Persons: Teamsters — Organizations: UPS, United Automobile Workers, Teamsters, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Benz, Amazon, FedEx, Polling Locations: Tennessee, Alabama

☆ Norfolk Southern to Pay U.S. $310 Million for East Palestine Accident
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Norfolk Southern has agreed to pay more than $310 million to settle claims and cover costs stemming from the February 2023 derailment of a freight train carrying hazardous materials in an Ohio town, the federal government said on Thursday. The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency said the settlement, which still needs to be approved by a federal court, requires Norfolk Southern to improve rail safety and pay for cleanup costs and health and environmental monitoring in and around East Palestine, Ohio, where the accident happened. On a Friday night in early February last year, 38 rail cars on a Norfolk Southern train derailed, 11 of which were carrying hazard materials like vinyl chloride, a chemical used to make plastics. Days later, emergency responders, fearing an explosion, decided to release and burn vinyl chloride from derailed cars, sending vast plumes of dark smoke over the town. Hundreds of residents were evacuated and life in East Palestine was upended for months.

Persons: Michael S, Regan Organizations: Norfolk Southern, of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency, Norfolk Locations: Ohio, East Palestine , Ohio, Norfolk Southern, East Palestine

☆ Norfolk Southern Investors Reject Plan to Oust Its Management
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Shareholders of Norfolk Southern, the beleaguered freight railroad, on Thursday voted down an attempt by an activist investment firm to remove the company’s chief executive and take control of its board. But the activist, Ancora, a Cleveland firm, managed to secure a foothold at the company, after shareholders voted to place three of its directors onto Norfolk Southern’s 13-member board. Ancora had hoped to take control of the company’s leadership with an aim to cut costs and increase Norfolk Southern’s profits and stock price. The result is a partial victory for Norfolk Southern’s executives, who had to defend themselves against criticisms of the company’s safety record and its lackluster financial performance. The results of the shareholder vote, which are preliminary, were announced Thursday morning at a virtual company annual meeting.

Persons: Ancora Organizations: Norfolk Locations: Norfolk Southern, Cleveland, East Palestine , Ohio

☆ Activist Investor Seeks to Force Out Norfolk Southern’s Management
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After one of Norfolk Southern’s freight trains derailed last year, spilling hazardous chemicals in an Ohio town, the company’s leaders were assailed by lawmakers, regulators and angry residents, an onslaught the executives managed to survive. But Norfolk Southern’s management faces a fresh challenge this week from an investment firm that is asking shareholders to vote to replace the company’s chief executive, Alan Shaw, and appoint new directors to its board. The campaign by Ancora, a Cleveland investment firm, invokes the accident in East Palestine, the Ohio town, but its main aim is to overhaul Norfolk Southern’s business strategy to bolster its profits. The company’s leaders are vulnerable because Norfolk Southern’s stock price and profit margins lag those of its peers. Ancora’s plan in large part rests on cutting costs and making the company’s 19,100-mile rail network run more efficiently.

Persons: Alan Shaw, Ancora’s Organizations: Norfolk Locations: Norfolk, Ohio, Cleveland, East Palestine

☆ Maersk Says Expanded Houthi Attacks Are Forcing More Delays
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Peter Eavis | More About Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Global shipping lines have become increasingly strained as the Houthi militia in Yemen broadens its attacks on cargo vessels, one of the largest companies in the industry warned on Monday. “The risk zone has expanded,” Maersk, the second-largest ocean carrier, said in a note to customers, adding that the stress was causing further delays and higher costs. Since late last year, the Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea, which cargo vessels from Asia have to travel through to reach the Suez Canal. But in recent weeks, the Houthis have been trying to strike ships making that longer journey in the Indian Ocean. Because going around Africa takes longer, shipping companies have had to add more vessels to ensure that they can transport goods on time and without cutting volumes.

Persons: ” Organizations: ” Maersk Locations: Yemen, Red, Asia, Suez, Europe, Africa

☆ Trains, Trucks and Tractors: The Race to Reroute Goods From Baltimore
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

New John Deere tractors made their way last week through the sprawling port of Brunswick, Ga., their distinctive green paint glinting in the sunshine. Stevedores drove the tractors up a ramp into the belly of the Leo Spirit, a ship that would take them to Asia. The bridge’s collapse closed most of the Port of Baltimore, which last year handled 1.3 million tons of farm and construction machinery and 850,000 cars and light trucks. The Deere tractors would normally be shipped from Baltimore, getting there on trains from a factory in Waterloo, Iowa, according to Georgia port officials. Instead, the tractors had to be trucked to Brunswick, a journey that adds time and costs.

Persons: John Deere, Stevedores, Leo Spirit, Francis Scott Key, ”, Griff Lynch Organizations: Deere, Georgia Ports Authority Locations: Brunswick, Ga, Asia, Coast, Baltimore, Port of Baltimore, Waterloo , Iowa, Georgia

☆ How Thin Air and Summer Snow Can Heal the Soul
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 2022, I scaled Mount Marcy, the highest peak in New York State, with my son. Some Google searching revealed that Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48, was not out of reach for amateurs like us. Hiking had brought exhilarating new challenges and triumphs — and Mount Whitney promised those on a much greater scale. We’d been told to expect a lot of snow higher up, but we didn’t expect any this low. It would take me forever — and we didn’t have forever.

Persons: Marcy, Mount Whitney, Lucy didn’t, We’d Locations: New York State, Lone Pine

On the day the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed, President Biden said the federal government would pay the “entire cost” of rebuilding it, which some suggest could run to more than $1 billion. Washington will foot the bill so the bridge and nearby port can reopen “as soon as humanly possible,” he said. Rebuilding the bridge, repairing the cargo ship that hit it and compensating companies for the disruption at one of the nation’s busiest ports may take years to resolve. “We’re not going to wait,” said Mr. Biden, who plans to visit Baltimore on Friday to survey the damage. They cited an 1851 law that allows a shipowner to cap financial damages mostly to the value of a ship after a crash, if the owner is determined not to have been at fault.

Persons: Francis Scott Key, Biden, ”, “ We’re, Mr Organizations: Baltimore, Grace Ocean Private Ltd, Synergy Marine Locations: Baltimore, Washington, “, Singapore, U.S

☆ Baltimore Investigation Turns to Ship’s Deadly Mechanical Failure
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-30 | by ( Mike Baker | Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just minutes before the cargo ship Dali was set to glide under Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, the ship’s alarms began to blare. The lights went out. Even the rudder, which the crew uses to maneuver the vessel, was frozen. As a frantic effort to restore the ship was underway, the pilot soon recognized that the aimless vessel was drifting toward disaster, and called for help. The cascading collapse of the vessel’s most crucial operating systems left the Dali adrift until it ultimately collided with the Key bridge, knocking the span into the river and killing six people.

Persons: Dali, Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Organizations: Engineers

☆ ‘A Lot of Chaos’: Bridge Collapse Creates Upheaval at Largest U.S. Port for Car Trade
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Peter Eavis | Jenny Gross | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Baltimore bridge disaster on Tuesday upended operations at one of the nation’s busiest ports, with disruptions likely to be felt for weeks by companies shipping goods in and out of the country — and possibly by consumers as well. The upheaval will be especially notable for auto makers and coal producers for whom Baltimore has become one of the most vital shipping destinations in the United States. “It’s going to cause a lot of chaos,” said Paul Brashier, vice president for drayage and intermodal at ITS Logistics. Last year, 570,000 vehicles were imported through Baltimore, according to Sina Golara, an assistant professor of supply chain management at Georgia State University. “That’s a huge amount,” he said, equivalent to nearly a quarter of the current inventory of new cars in the United States.

Persons: Francis Scott Key, It’s, ”, Paul Brashier, Sina Golara, “ Organizations: Baltimore, Baltimore . Ships, ITS Logistics, Georgia State University Locations: Baltimore, United States, Port of Baltimore, Panama, Suez, Red

☆ New Freighters Could Ease Red Sea Cargo Disruptions
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After the Houthi militia started attacking container ships in the Red Sea last year, the cost of shipping goods from Asia soared by over 300 percent, prompting fears that supply chain disruptions might once again roil the global economy. The Houthis, who are backed by Iran and control northern Yemen, continue to threaten ships, forcing many to take a much longer route around Africa’s southern tip. One reason for the optimism is that a huge number of container ships, ordered two to three years ago, are entering service. Those extra vessels are expected to help shipping companies maintain regular service as their ships travel longer distances. The companies ordered the ships when the extraordinary surge in world trade that occurred during the pandemic created enormous demand for their services.

Persons: ”, Brian Whitlock Organizations: Gartner Locations: Red, Asia, Iran, Yemen

☆ Elon Musk’s $50 Billion Tesla Pay Was Struck Down. What Happens Next?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Jack Ewing | Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla and Mr. Musk could appeal the court decision. Mr. Musk has also indicated that he might seek to incorporate the company in another state that he believes could be more hospitable to businesses, like Texas. What happens to Mr. Musk’s stock options? As part of a compensation package Tesla finalized in 2018, Mr. Musk received options to buy 304 million shares that are now worth more than $50 billion. While he has met the goals needed to receive those options, Mr. Musk does not appear to have converted them into shares of Tesla.

Persons: Elon, Kathaleen St, J . McCormick, Tesla, Musk Organizations: Tesla, Mr Locations: Delaware, Texas

☆ Elon Musk’s Tesla Pay Package Is Voided by Judge
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Jack Ewing | Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, suffered a stunning rebuke Tuesday when a Delaware judge voided the pay package that helped make him a billionaire many times over and the world’s wealthiest human being. In a decision that cast a harsh light on the behavior of Mr. Musk and Tesla’s board of directors, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery said the chief executive had effectively overseen his own compensation plan with the help of compliant board members. “The process leading to the approval of Musk’s compensation plan was deeply flawed,” the judge said. She ordered that the contract that gave Mr. Musk “the largest potential compensation plan in the history of public markets” be voided, and told parties in the case to work out how Mr. Musk would return excess pay. Some compensation experts said the decision would send a warning to other companies that awarded their top executives very large pay packages.

Persons: Elon Musk, Tesla, Chancellor Kathaleen St, J . McCormick, Musk Organizations: Chancery Locations: Delaware

☆ Since Ohio Train Derailment, Accidents Have Gone Up, Not Down
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-28 | by ( Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed a year ago in East Palestine, Ohio, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents and upending life in the town for months, the rail industry pledged to work to become safer, and members of Congress vowed to pass legislation to prevent similar disasters. And accidents went up. Derailments rose at the top five freight railroads in 2023, according to regulatory reports for the first 10 months of the year, the most recent period for which data exists for all five companies. And there was a steep increase in the mechanical problem — an overheated wheel bearing — that regulators think caused the derailment of the 1.75-mile-long train in East Palestine. Norfolk Southern, the operator of the train and the owner of the track that runs through the town, was the only railroad among the five to report a decline in accidents in the period.

Organizations: Norfolk Southern Locations: East Palestine , Ohio, East Palestine, Norfolk

☆ With Offices Sitting Empty, Landlords Are ‘Handing Back the Keys’
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

That means a landlord stops paying the mortgage on the office building, or declines to refinance it, and the bank or investors who made the loan repossess the building. Some of the biggest names in commercial real estate, like Brookfield and Blackstone, have defaulted on mortgages and have started or completed the process of handing back the keys on office towers. The tactic reveals both the depth of the problems in the office market and the ability of big property companies to push much of the financial pain onto banks and other lenders.

Organizations: Blackstone Locations: Brookfield

☆ New Bidder Aims to Save Bankrupt Trucking Firm, if Treasury Goes Along
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Peter Eavis | More About Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Yellow abruptly shuttered its operations in the summer and filed for bankruptcy protection, few thought that a buyer would emerge and try to revive the long-troubled trucking giant. The plan rests, however, on getting the Treasury Department to allow Yellow to postpone repayment of a $700 million rescue loan that it made to the company in 2020. But the Treasury may not accept the plan because there are legal obstacles to extending the loan. Some trucking analysts say reviving Yellow will be hard because many of its customers will have moved on to other trucking companies that are much better run than the old Yellow. But Sarah Riggs Amico, the trucking executive leading the deal, said only her plan could bring back thousands of jobs, adding that she had the experience to build a leaner company in partnership with the Teamsters and assemble an executive team that can win back customers.

Persons: Sarah Riggs Amico Organizations: International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Treasury Department, Teamsters Locations: Delaware

☆ WeWork’s Bankruptcy Tests Claims of a Co-Working Revolution
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Peter Eavis | More About Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But the company never created a sustainable business or changed how most people worked. Flexible office space accounts for less than 2 percent of all office space in the 20 largest U.S. markets, according to Cushman & Wakefield, close to its share before the pandemic. WeWork filed for bankruptcy protection this week in an effort to quickly slim down its portfolio of office spaces. Many employers are paring back their office space because workers aren’t going in five days a week after growing accustomed to working remotely or on a hybrid schedule. WeWork’s bankruptcy will only make the situation worse by leaving landlords with more space to fill.

Persons: WeWork, aren’t Organizations: Cushman & Locations: Cushman & Wakefield

For years, landlords around the world clamored to get WeWork into their office buildings, a love affair that made the co-working company the largest corporate tenant in New York and London. Now, WeWork is perhaps days away from a bankruptcy filing — and its demise could not come at a worse time for office landlords. With fewer employees going into the office since the pandemic, companies have slashed the amount of space they lease, causing one of the worst crunches in decades in commercial real estate. Many landlords have accepted lower rents from WeWork in recent years to keep it afloat, but its bankruptcy would be an enormous blow. Some landlords might quickly accept lower rents from WeWork as part of a bankruptcy reorganization and keep doing business with any new entity that emerges, but others might have to fight in court to get anything.

Locations: New York, London, WeWork

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