Tech Digest daily roundup: Tesla shares plunge once again
Shares in Tesla plunged by more than 8 per cent in early trading on Tuesday as Elon Musk’s erratic Twitter ownership appeared to weigh heavily on the electric vehicle maker. Tesla stock had cratered to under $113 by 12pm, setting a new 52-week low, and has lost more than two-thirds of its value since Mr Musk first offered to purchase the social media platform in April. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has fallen by 34 per cent, or around half of Tesla’s losses, so far in 2022. CNBC reported that Tesla’s latest tailspin followed from news that its Shanghai factory will reduce production in January, after it was forced to shutdown in December due to Covid lockdowns. Independent
Apple and Tesla stocks have tumbled over growing concerns about delays in their production lines in China. Apple shares hit their lowest point since June 2021. Tesla’s stock has dropped 73% from a record high in November 2021. Companies have struggled to keep production going in China due to Covid restrictions and weeks of lockdowns. Now they are facing a staffing crunch as China battles a Covid wave after lifting years of restrictions. China announced that it will lift its strict quarantine rules for travellers on 8 January, a positive sign for many investors who are seeing an ease in supply chain movement in 2023. BBC
Just when you thought the various controversies surrounding Twitter were winding down, a hacker claims to be selling the data of 400 million users. The data is said to have been captured in 2021, and was obtained using an API vulnerability that has since been fixed. The threat actor, who calls themself ‘Ryushi’, has advised Elon Musk and Twitter to buy the data for the asking price of $200,000, or face an even larger GDPR fine. The threat actor, who appears to have joined the Breached hacking forum in December 2022, wrote: “Your best option to avoid paying $276 million USD in GDPR breach fines like facebook did (due to 533m users being scraped) is to buy this data exclusively.” Tech Radar
Britain’s “Silicon Roundabout” is losing its lustre as a hub for technology start-ups as a combination of Covid lockdowns and the rise of working from home causes footfall to collapse. Figures from Transport for London show that entries and exits at London Underground’s Old Street station have dropped by more than a third from January 2020, weeks before the UK’s first Covid lockdown. Although the number of Britons working from home across the country is slowly declining, footfall at key office locations such as Old Street still remains lower than before the pandemic. Telegraph
From £25m per episode on the latest season of Stranger Things, to north of £380m for The Rings Of Power’s debut run, it’s been a year of eye-watering budgets as streaming services battle for our attention. But while there has never been so much blockbuster content to watch, the cost of living crisis means for a growing number of households there has never been so little money to spend. Since the start of the year, close to one million UK households have given up on streaming services – meaning they don’t even have one active subscription, according to research by Kantar Worldpanel. Sky News
