—— Uber to Buy Back $7 Billion of Shares; Continental to Lay Off 7,000 Employees; Bezos Saves Nearly $300 Million on Move; Y Combinator Recruits Startups; Tesla Supplier Builds Plant in Mexico; Volkswagen Cars Seized by Customs; Luxury Apartment Rent Declines in Major Cities
1. Uber to Buy Back $7 Billion of Shares
Today, Uber’s CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah announced that the company plans to buy back $7 billion worth of shares as a way to reward shareholders and demonstrate its confidence in the company’s financial health and growth.
Prior to market opening, Uber’s stock surged by up to 8.2%, having doubled in price over the past 12 months.
In recent years, Uber has posted over $30 billion in losses while aggressively trying to capture market share. However, last year, Uber finally reached a turning point, turning profitable for the first time and posting an annual profit.
In December, Uber was also included in the elite group of S&P 500 companies.
Uber expects its profits to continue growing in 2024.
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2. Continental to Lay Off 7,000 Employees
German transportation manufacturing giant Continental AG today announced plans to lay off 7,150 employees, representing 3.6% of its workforce, while restructuring several departments in Germany and other regions. This restructuring strategy aims to revitalize the automotive parts division.
The company revealed that 1,750 of the job cuts will come from the research department, while the remaining 5,400 will come from management positions. Forty percent of the affected employees are based in Germany.
Continental’s automotive division has lagged behind its competitors in recent years, and the company needs to reduce costs while investing in new technologies. Continental is also considering divesting non-core assets and joint ventures.
This year, declining demand in the automotive industry and uncertain growth trends in China have impacted both Continental and Bosch.
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3. Bezos Saves Nearly $300 Million on Move
Regulatory filing documents show that over the past four trading days, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sold a total of 24 million Amazon shares, worth over $4 billion.
Less than two weeks ago, Bezos revealed his plan to liquidate shares, the first such sale since 2021.
Bezos did not provide an explanation for the stock sale, but after recently moving to Florida, his capital gains tax has dropped from 7% in Washington State to zero. This “strategic” relocation could save him $288 million in taxes.
Since the beginning of the year, Amazon’s stock has risen 13%.
Source：Bloomberg – Bezos Sells $4 Billion of Amazon Stock in Four Trading Days
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4. Y Combinator Recruits Startups
Silicon Valley’s renowned incubator Y Combinator (YC) announced a new recruitment list for startups, inviting 20 different types of companies to apply for YC’s incubation program. YC updates this list periodically based on market changes.
Today, YC president Dalton Caldwell said the list includes categories of companies YC wants to help grow, with strong future development potential.
The top category on the YC list is applying machine learning to automation in machinery. YC believes that while robotics hasn’t yet experienced a “GPT moment,” robots are expected to soon achieve human-like perception and decision-making.
In addition to machine learning and robotics, the list also includes AI applications in weather forecasting, aircraft design, and manufacturing automation.
Given the increasing geopolitical issues in recent years, YC has also included defense technology in its recruitment list.
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5. Tesla Supplier Builds Plant in Mexico
Recently, Tesla invited several Chinese manufacturers to replicate its electric car production plant in Shanghai around the Monterrey area in Mexico. The U.S. government is closely monitoring the rapid development of Chinese suppliers’ supply chains in Mexico.
Tesla plans to build a large facility in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, capable of producing the next generation of affordable electric vehicles, with the local government offering $153 million in incentives.
In 2023, the value of auto parts produced in Mexico but exported from China to the U.S. increased by 15% year-over-year to $1.1 billion.
Last year, 33 Chinese automotive parts companies registered in Mexico, with 18 of them exporting to the U.S.
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6. Volkswagen Cars Seized by Customs
Two sources revealed that a Volkswagen supplier found that more than 1,000 Porsche, Bentley, and Audi cars contained Chinese parts that violated labor laws.
U.S. Customs temporarily seized these vehicles, and Volkswagen will replace the related electronic parts, delaying the delivery of the cars until the end of March.
Sources emphasized that Volkswagen was unaware of the origin of these parts and immediately reported the issue to regulators after being notified by the supplier.
The seized cars include 1,000 Porsche sports cars and SUVs, hundreds of Bentleys, and thousands of Audis.
Source：Financial Times – US Porsche, Bentley and Audi imports held up over banned Chinese part
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7. Luxury Apartment Rent Declines in Major Cities
A global survey of apartment rents by real estate company Knight Frank shows that in the fourth quarter of last year, rents for high-end apartments in the top 5% of the market dropped 0.6% quarter-over-quarter.
In particular, rents for luxury apartments in New York City fell 2.5%, while Hong Kong’s dropped 2%, and Toronto saw the largest decline of 4.8%.
However, luxury apartment rents remain very high, with rents in the fourth quarter up 5.2% compared to the previous year, still double the historical average increase.
The median rent for top 5% apartments in New York City was $4,195, nearly unchanged from the previous year, while rents in the other nine major cities increased, with Sydney seeing a quarter-over-quarter increase of 18%.
Knight Frank predicts that rent growth will slow this year as more supply enters the market.
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This content is sourced from Financial Times, Bloomberg, and The Real Deal, among other financial news outlets.