Roundup: Yelp allegedly extorts, Twitter embraces its origins, Tesla CMO defects and more
Here’s the latest action:
The downturn finally hits HP — The company announced a 10 percent drop in earnings yesterday and plans to cut salaries. CNet has more.
Yelp accused of extortion, again — Local business owners report that the trendy review site offers to hide negative critiques in… Continue Reading
Tesla forecasts 2009 profit, despite recent hard knocks
Electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors announced it will hit profitability by the second half of 2009. The statement was made in a recent company newsletter. Boosted by the $40 million in capital it raised from existing investors in December, the San Carlos, Calif.-based company said… Continue Reading
Electric cars disappointed in 2008 — and 2009 won’t be different
The Detroit Auto Show is underway, and the world’s most famous vehicle brands are touting the next generation of cars. And although yesterday’s fervent promises of hydrogen-powered vehicles have mostly fallen away, they’ve been replaced with new promises, this time centered around the idea of… Continue Reading
VantagePoint charges up on $435M for cleantech
The clouds may have rolled in for many other sectors in today’s economy, but the sun still shines on cleantech — and VantagePoint Venture Partners in particular. The San Bruno, Calif.-based firm just landed $435 million for its second fund, reports VentureWire.
The close comes as… Continue Reading
Tesla’s recent troubles
This picture from Wrecked Exotics, of a Tesla Roadster crashed in southern France by one of the company’s sales directors, pretty much says it all about the company’s recent troubles.
Tesla absorbs another $40M to keep the motor running
Tesla Motors has looked a bit shaky lately, starting with a staff layoff and an ouster of its CEO a little over two weeks ago and following with reports that the company had only $9 million left in the bank. But lead investor and new… Continue Reading
Electric car maker Tesla low on cash, but won’t go bust (yet)
News moves quickly these days. Within hours of a rumor circulating that Tesla Motors is running low on cash, company CEO Elon Musk announced via Reuters that the company will close over $20 million in new funding by next week.
The rumor appears to have come… Continue Reading
Elon Musk steps in as CEO at Tesla, lays off staff
Tesla Motors, the maker of the high-performance Roadster, has become something of a symbol for the budding electric car industry. The many other startups in the space, then, should sit up and take notice of its latest move: A takeover of the CEO position by… Continue Reading
Tesla Motors to site its manufacturing plant in San Jose
Tesla Motors, the heavily-funded electric car company that produces the high-end Roadster sports car, has settled on a location in San Jose, Calif. for its manufacturing plant to make a more market-oriented car model.
The site of the new factory has been uncertain, while Tesla let… Continue Reading
Roundup: IPOs slow to a crawl, China gets music sales, Facebook competition kicks off and more
July was slowest for IPOs in five years — A measly 56 companies went public last month, raising $5.6 billion. Pretty depressing, compared to last year’s figure of 190 companies and $31.7 billion. This month is expected to be similarly slow, with a pickup coming late… Continue Reading
Roundup: Obama inspires tech ire, AOL possibly for sale, thin-film solar to surge, and more
Obama takes flack for telecom reversal — Barack Obama is about as smart as politicians get when it comes to technology, and even plans to name a chief technologist for the country if elected. But he has finally managed to offend the devoted, by changing his… Continue Reading
Tesla to manufacture the Model S in the Bay Area
In an event held today by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and electric vehicle startup Tesla Motors, a few more details were revealed about the lower-priced successor to Tesla’s Roadster, production of which is still getting underway.
In a surprise move, Tesla is canceling plans to build a… Continue Reading
Tesla Motors opens first store in L.A., talks about future plans
The Tesla Motors executive team and a gaggle of reporters and celebrities were out en masse yesterday to witness the grand opening of the company’s flagship store in Los Angeles. Close to 9 months in the making, the store was the culmination of several years… Continue Reading
Roundup: Farber takes over at CNET, Mozilla’s new email subsidiary, Scribd iPaper, and more
Here’s the latest action:
1) Dan Farber takes the helm at CNET
2) Mozilla launches email-focused subsidiary
3) Scribd creates iPaper, an Acrobat competitor
4) Hewlett-Packard has great first quarter
5) Tesla Motors pulls in another $40M
6) Verizon, AT&T unveil new unlimited wireless plans
7) Oligarchs, proletariat run amok in Silicon… Continue Reading
Tesla shooting for $250M in IPO and debt raise to produce the WhiteStar
Tesla Motors is planning to raise $250 million between a public offering and debt raise, according to a Financial Times interview with the company’s chairman, Elon Musk.
This marks the first time that a number has been attached to Tesla’s future fundraising plans. The company is… Continue Reading
Tesla unveils first production version of electric sports car
The first production version of Tesla’s Roadster, an electric sports car, was unveiled at the company’s San Carlos, Calif. facility earlier today. In fact, board chairman and proud new owner Elon Musk may be taking it for a spin as you read this.
“This represents the… Continue Reading
Tesla’s layoffs: Bad blood, a bloodbath, or business as usual?
Following its ouster of founder Martin Eberhard and appointment of new chief executive Ze’ev Drori late last year, electric car maker Tesla Motors is going through a fresh round of layoffs, including several execs and members of its engineering team.
Eberhard revealed the news yesterday on… Continue Reading
30 electric cars companies ready to take over the road
It’s official: Green car madness has taken over. After seeing more electric and hybrid vehicle startups than we could keep track of, we finally decided to start keeping count.
We’ve compiled a list, below, of 27 (update: the list has reached 30; thanks for the comments)… Continue Reading
Cleantech roundup: Martin Tobias out at Imperium, solar’s grand future, and more
If, like us, you took some time off during the past week, you’ve missed a few cleantech news items. To help out, we’ve assembled a quick catch-me-up on a few interesting or significant stories:
1) Martin Tobias out at Imperium Renewables
2) The grand plan for solar… Continue Reading
Tesla says first cars will be testing versions, will raise $40M more
Tesla Motors, the company making an electric sports car scheduled to hit the market next quarter, is now saying the first release of cars won’t have the promised performance.
Rather, they’ll come equipped with an interim transmissions that the company says should be considered “public betas,”… Continue Reading