Today we are watching…
1. Tesla (#tesla)
The technological innovations and improvements that Elon Musk pioneers are critical competitive advantages for his companies. In recent years, he’s noticed something strange. The most talented engineers at Tesla seem to end their careers with him by leaving for the same competitor, Xpeng, in China. It’s another electric car maker, and its source code in its cars is catching up fast to what Tesla has developed. It’s suspicious. He’s ordering a court to demand Xpeng hands over its source code, turns over computer hard drives, and allows Tesla to interview an employee. There may be trade secret theft going on. If true, investors’ fears that a genuine competitor is out, there will be dispelled. The stock will rise, but what if Xpeng is legit?
2. Zoom (#zm)
It’s been a baptism of fire for this video conferencing service. When lockdown began, everyone loved it and felt very comfortable working from home via Zoom meetings. However, things have gotten bumpy since then. First, unwanted guests hacked into meetings. Now, Facebook is seeing Zoom’s success and decided, “yep, we’ll have a piece of that,” announcing plans for its own service. The service will be more social and less corporate, putting Zoom in a pinch given that many corporate users have migrated to Microsoft Teams due to its better reputation for privacy and security. Could Zoom’s rise be about to turn into an epic fall?