Bitcoin hits record $US110,000 amid ‘stupendous' buying
The exodus from risk assets like equities and cryptocurrencies sent bitcoin tumbling to near $US74,000 – a 32 per cent slump from its record high of $US109,356 around the time of Trump's inauguration on January 20.
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ABC News
20 minutes ago
- ABC News
Tesla awards chief executive Elon Musk $44 billion worth of shares
The world's richest man, Elon Musk, has become even richer after Tesla awarded him $US29 billion ($44 billion) worth of shares in the company. It comes just six months after a judge struck down an even larger pay package worth $US56 billion ($86 billion) after a lawsuit brought by a Tesla stockholder. Mr Musk, who is the chief executive of the electric vehicle maker, will be awarded 96 million shares in Tesla, but analysts believe it signals the tech billionaire will remain with the company until 2030. Tesla said in a regulatory filing on Monday that Mr Musk must first pay Tesla $US23.34 ($36.06) per share of restricted stock that vests. That cost is equal to the exercise price per share of the 2018 pay package that was awarded to the company's chief executive. In a letter to shareholders, Tesla's board said that Mr Musk hasn't received "meaningful compensation" for eight years. The board argued that Mr Musk deserved the compensation because he has delivered "transformative and unprecedented growth" that has "translated into immense value generated for Tesla and all our shareholders." Tesla shares have plunged 25 per cent this year, largely due to blowback over the billionaire's affiliation with President Donald Trump. Tesla also faces intensifying competition from both the big Detroit automakers and from Chinese EV companies. In its most recent quarter, Tesla reported that quarterly profits plunged from $US1.39 billion ($2.15 billion) to $US409 million ($632 million). Revenue also fell and the company fell short of even the lowered expectations on Wall Street. Under pressure from shareholders last month, Tesla scheduled an annual shareholders meeting for November to comply with Texas state law. A group of more than 20 Tesla shareholders, which have watched Tesla shares plummet, said in a letter to the company that it needed to at least provide public notice of the annual meeting. Investors have grown increasingly worried about the trajectory of the company after Mr Musk had spent so much time in Washington this year. He became one of the most prominent officials in the Trump administration in its bid to slash the size of the US government. In December, Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen St. Jude McCormick reaffirmed her earlier ruling that Tesla must revoke Mr Musk's multi-billion-dollar pay package. She found that Mr Musk engineered the landmark pay package in sham negotiations with directors who were not independent. At the time, Judge McCormick also rejected an equally unprecedented and massive fee request by plaintiff attorneys, who argued that they were entitled to legal fees in the form of Tesla stock valued at more than $US5 billion ($7.7 billion). The judge said the attorneys were entitled to a fee award of $345 million. The rulings came in a lawsuit filed by a Tesla stockholder who challenged Musk's 2018 compensation package. Mr Musk has been one of the richest people in the world for several years. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said he felt Mr Musk's stock award would alleviate some Tesla shareholder concerns. "We believe this grant will now keep Musk as CEO of Tesla at least until 2030 and removes an overhang on the stock," Mr Ives wrote in a client note. "Musk remains Tesla's big asset and this comp issue has been a constant concern of shareholders once the Delaware soap opera began." AP
The Australian
27 minutes ago
- The Australian
Moscow awaits 'important' Trump envoy visit before sanctions deadline
The Kremlin said Monday it was anticipating "important" talks with Donald Trump's special envoy later this week, ahead of the US president's looming deadline to impose fresh sanctions on Moscow if it does not make progress towards a peace deal with Ukraine. Trump confirmed a day earlier that Steve Witkoff will visit Russia, likely on "Wednesday or Thursday", where he is expected to meet President Vladimir Putin. Despite pressure from Washington, Russia has continued its onslaught against its pro-Western neighbour. Three rounds of peace talks in Istanbul have failed to make headway on a possible ceasefire, with the two sides appearing as far apart as ever. Moscow has demanded that Ukraine cede more territory and renounce Western support. Kyiv is calling for an immediate ceasefire and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week urged his allies to push for "regime change" in Moscow. Trump's deadline is set to expire on Friday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday it considered the talks with Witkoff to be "important, substantial and helpful" and valued US efforts to end the conflict. Putin has already met Witkoff multiple times in Moscow, before Trump's efforts to mend ties with the Kremlin came to a grinding halt. When reporters asked what Witkoff's message would be to Moscow, and if there was anything Russia could do to avoid the sanctions, Trump replied: "Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed." - Nuclear stand-off - The visit comes after Trump said that two nuclear submarines he deployed following an online row with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev were now "in the region". Trump has not said whether he meant nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines. He also did not elaborate on the exact deployment locations, which are kept secret by the US military. Russia, in its first comments on the deployment, urged "caution". "Russia is very attentive to the topic of nuclear non-proliferation. And we believe that everyone should be very, very cautious with nuclear rhetoric," the Kremlin's Peskov said. The chief of staff to Zelensky on Monday backed Trump's actions. "The concept of peace through strength works," Andriy Yermak wrote on social media. "The moment American nuclear submarines appeared, one Russian drunk -- who had just been threatening nuclear war on X -- suddenly went silent," he added. Trump has previously threatened that new measures could mean "secondary tariffs" targeting Russia's remaining trade partners, such as China and India. This would further stifle Russia, but would risk significant international disruption. Putin, who has consistently rejected calls for a ceasefire, said Friday that he wants peace but that his demands, dismissed by Kyiv as "old ultimatums", for ending his nearly three-and-a-half-year offensive were "unchanged". Russia has frequently called on Ukraine to effectively cede control of four regions Moscow claims to have annexed, a demand Kyiv has called unacceptable. Putin also wants Ukraine to drop its ambitions to join NATO. - Zelensky visits troops - Russia fired a record number of drones at Ukraine last month, AFP analysis of Kyiv's air force data showed, escalating its attacks as peace talks stalled. Kyiv has also said it will intensify its air strikes against Russia in response. Both sides said Monday they had downed dozens of enemy drones overnight in the latest barrage. Separate Russian strikes on the southern Zaporizhzhia region, part of which it controls, killed four people, Ukrainian officials said Monday. One more was killed by Russian shelling in the southern Kherson region. Zelensky was visiting troops at the front in the Kharkiv region, he said, posting a video of him awarding soldiers with medals and walking through bunkers. Russia is seeking to establish what it calls a "buffer zone" inside the Kharkiv region along the Russian-Ukrainian border. Zelensky also said Sunday that the two sides were preparing a prisoner exchange that would see 1,200 Ukrainian troops return home, following the latest round of talks in Istanbul last month. burs/sbk
ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Russia downplays Trump's nuclear submarine move after Medvedev comments
The Kremlin has downplayed the significance of US President Donald Trump's order to move nuclear submarines, while issuing a warning that everyone should be "very, very careful" about nuclear rhetoric. Mr Trump ordered two of the US Navy's submarines to reposition after former Russian president and current deputy chairperson of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, made comments online about a nuclear exchange. In the first public comments on Mr Trump's move, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters it was "obvious that American submarines are already on combat duty". "But in general, of course, we would not want to get involved in such a controversy and would not want to comment on it in any way," he added. "Of course, we believe that everyone should be very, very careful with nuclear rhetoric." Mr Medvedev's comments last week and Mr Trump's response were the latest in a string of back-and-forth exchanges between the two men. When Mr Trump imposed a deadline on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine or face further sanctions, including on buyers of its exports, Mr Medvedev accused him of playing a "game of ultimatums" and moving a step closer to war between Russia and the US. Mr Trump retorted: "Tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he's still President, to watch his words. He's entering very dangerous territory!" Mr Medvedev waded in again last Thursday, saying the US president had had a "nervous reaction" which showed Russia was on the right course, before referring again to Moscow's nuclear capabilities. Mr Trump delivered his statement the following day on posting US nuclear submarines in "the appropriate regions", since when Mr Medvedev has not posted again. Russian opposition figures have dismissed the former Russian president's outpourings as sad, impotent rants, according to Reuters. However, some Western diplomats say they give a flavour of the thinking in Kremlin policy-making circles. Until now, they have rarely provoked a direct response from Western leaders. Mr Peskov declined to answer directly when asked whether the Kremlin had tried to warn Medvedev to tone down his online statements. "The main thing, of course, is the position of President Putin," he said. The episode comes at a delicate moment, with Mr Trump threatening to impose new sanctions on Russia and buyers of its oil, including India and China, unless President Vladimir Putin agrees by Friday to end the war in Ukraine. Mr Trump, who frequently promised to end the war within 24 hours while campaigning for the US presidency last year, has spoken admiringly of Mr Putin in the past but voiced increasing frustration with him of late. The Russian president said last week that peace talks had made some positive progress but that Russia had the momentum in the war, signalling no shift in his position despite the looming deadline. Mr Trump has said he may send his envoy Steve Witkoff to Russia on Wednesday or Thursday. Witkoff has held long conversations with Putin on several previous visits but failed to persuade him to agree to a ceasefire. The Kremlin declined to say if his latest proposed trip was taking place at Moscow's request, and did not say what it hoped might emerge from it. "We are always happy to see Mr Witkoff in Moscow and we are always happy to have contacts with Mr Witkoff. We consider them important, meaningful and very useful," Mr Peskov said. Reuters
