Latest news with #C-suite
Yahoo
21 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tesla fires longtime insider as Europe slump deepens
Tesla fires longtime insider as Europe slump deepens originally appeared on TheStreet. It's safe to say all the chatter about robots, AI, and Musk's President Trump drama has masked Tesla's () core: an electric vehicle company that's now stumbling big time. Over the past few years, most earnings calls have hyped AI, robotaxis, and what Tesla could be. 💵💰💰💵 What it actually is, though, is a lagging AI player that continues to see a steep drop in vehicle sales. Mr. Market hasn't taken those declining sales reports kindly, either, with Tesla stock down more than 20% year to date. Moreover, the drama's now spilled over, with recent C-suite shakeups hinting that things are blowing up behind the scenes. Tesla and its unpredictable CEO, Elon Musk, have always landed in hot water, but the past few months have been uniquely messy. Early in 2025, Musk found himself in an unlikely alliance with the Trump administration as a special advisor. The move prompted backlash from progressive shoppers and lawmakers in no time, with massive 'Tesla Takedown' protests hitting showrooms in major U.S. cities and media chatter had buyers holding off vehicle purchases, and some states even started looking into unfair labor claims. With Tesla taking the hits, Musk told Reuters in April that he'd cut his Trump gig to just a day or two a week. Then in late May, after an ugly fallout with President Trump, he ditched the role entirely, promising to get back to Tesla's core business. The PR mess bruised Tesla's equity and precipitated some of its worst sales drops ever. Particularly in Europe, Tesla's foothold has been visibly slipping. Registrations have tanked by more than 40% early in the year and then by nearly 30% in the spring. In contrast, the broader European EV market expanded at an encouraging pace. By mid-2025, Tesla's share there had fallen to under 1% — a steep drop from the 1.6% it held a year earlier. More Tech Stock News: Circle's stock price surges after stunning CEO comment Robotaxi rivalry heats up as new cities come online Analyst reboots AMD stock price target on chip update Amid this decline, Chinese EV brands like BYD and SAIC's MG charged ahead with aggressive pricing and wider model options. In North America, Tesla's deliveries held up better, but Musk's public profile cooled off a lot of that enthusiasm. Meanwhile, the Tesla robotaxi trials started last week in Austin, attracting mixed reviews so far. Early influencer videos showed jerky braking and lane slip-ups, catching the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's eye. On the flip side, longtime Tesla bull Dan Ives still isn't rattled and remains bullish. Tesla has reportedly fired Omead Afshar, its head of North American and European operations, following a massive drop in European EV deliveries, according to Forbes. Afshar is a veteran Tesla engineer and has climbed the ranks since joining in 2011. Putting things in perspective, in May, Tesla sold just 8,729 EVs in Europe, down 40.5% from the prior-year period, with its market share shrinking to 0.9% from 1.6% year-over-year. Similarly, YTD registrations were at 46,312 units, a sharp 45% drop from 84,215 a year ago, while European EV demand climbed 12% in the first five months of 2025. In contrast, from January through May 2025, BYD's European registrations jumped fivefold from about 8,500 in Q1 2024 to over 37,000 in Q1 went up a notch in April, when BYD beat Tesla for the first time with 7,231 BEVs sold versus Tesla's 7,165. European BYD customers seem to be enjoying the company's aggressive pricing strategy, fresh hybrid models, and bigger dealer network. Meanwhile, Tesla's North American performance looks a lot better, but not bulletproof. In Q1 2025, Tesla delivered 128,100 EVs in the U.S, an 8.6% drop from a year ago, but it maintained the lion's share at 44%. The contrast reflects its home turf advantage, backed by a massive Supercharger network and loyal Model Y and Model 3 buyers. Nevertheless, automotive titans like GM, Ford, and Volkswagen are all gaining ground fast. All eyes are on Q2 as Tesla reports earnings on July 16, 2025. Wall Street's looking for GAAP EPS of 35 cents, down from 40 cents a year ago. In the last four quarters, Tesla's only topped EPS once in Q3 2024 and beat sales estimates just once, too. Analysts have also slashed EPS estimates 20 times in the past 90 days. On the deliveries front, the street's betting Tesla moved about 393,000 vehicles globally in Q2, down 11% year-over-year but up 17% from fires longtime insider as Europe slump deepens first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 27, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 27, 2025, where it first appeared.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Is Your Business Ready For AI Or Just Chasing Hype?
Tod Loofbourrow, Chairman and CEO, ViralGains. Generative AI is rewriting the rules of marketing, and many brands are scrambling to keep up. But here's a reality check: by the end of 2025, Gartner predicts that 30% of GenAI projects will be abandoned before delivering any business value. This is because adopting AI isn't about deploying shiny new tools; it's about aligning technology with real business problems, building the right data foundation, managing risk and, most importantly, understanding where AI can actually move the needle. Right now, too many marketers are chasing AI for the optics, not the outcomes. Across the C-suite, "AI strategy" has become the must-have line item, especially in marketing. Promises of hyper-efficiency, real-time targeting, infinite personalization and generative scale have leaders greenlighting AI projects left and right. But a lot of these initiatives stall before launch. Worse yet, they fail to perform to expectations. This is because while the tech is impressive, the implementation is messy. Core questions—How will this drive ROI? Do we have the right data? Is this even the right use case?—often go unasked. This is the danger of AI FOMO: investing reactively, not strategically. The antidote? A framework that aligns AI opportunity with actual business relevance. If businesses want to cut through the hype, they need to ensure they have a thorough framework in place. Harvard Business Review, for example, introduced the WINS framework—a powerful lens to assess where GenAI can drive the most impact. WINS refers to the four dominant types of work GenAI can enhance: • Words (like ad copy, scripts and reports) • Images (visual assets, design and branding) • Numbers (analytics, forecasting and segmentation) • Sounds (audio branding, voice AI and podcasts) For marketers and advertising agencies, this should be viewed as core work. Your campaigns, strategies, insights and outputs all live squarely in this framework, which means your teams are on the front lines of AI transformation. But there's a second, equally important layer, which is evaluating how digitized your processes already are and how urgently you need to transform. Are you still manually pulling campaign data from siloed systems? Are your audience insights stuck in spreadsheets? Are your creative workflows bottlenecked? If your answer is "yes," you're likely in what HBR calls the "Next in Line" quadrant—where GenAI could deliver massive impact, but only if you prioritize the right foundations and partnerships. MIT's Andrew McAfee and others have discussed the importance of using AI to augment human performance—not replace it. The goal isn't to eliminate your creative, strategic or analytical talent. The goal is to amplify it. The real promise of GenAI lies in things like helping a junior copywriter draft 10 good ideas instead of two, letting a strategist test 50 creative variants in the time it once took to run A/B tests and giving insights teams real-time visibility into shifting audience sentiment. This isn't about automating your team out of existence. It's about enabling them to use GenAI as a co-pilot that elevates creative thinking, accelerates iteration and sharpens decisions. In working with large advertisers, I've seen how GenAI delivers value when combined with zero-party data—insights that consumers willingly share. Take the case of a national bank entering new markets. Rather than relying on assumptions about brand perception, they launched interactive video ads featuring a simple, embedded question: "Which word best describes our brand?" That single question became a rich source of insight. By applying GenAI-powered sentiment analysis to the responses, the bank quickly learned which creatives inspired trust, which messages resonated in specific regions and how to optimize the campaign in real time. This is WINS in action—words, images and numbers working together not just to capture attention, but to deepen understanding and accelerate performance. A common pitfall in adopting GenAI is the belief that everything must be built in-house to truly "own" the strategy. But in reality, GenAI success is less about technological ownership and more about making timely, strategic decisions that align with business goals. Deploying GenAI effectively often requires capabilities that span data engineering, model fine-tuning, regulatory alignment and creative integration. While some organizations may choose to develop these from scratch, others accelerate progress by leveraging existing tools, frameworks or external expertise—especially when it comes to domain-specific models or ready-to-use data pipelines. Ultimately, this is about avoiding unnecessary reinvention. Internal teams stay focused on differentiation and core value while relying on proven methods to get there faster and with less risk. The question is: where does your team add the most value, and where can others help remove friction so you can move with purpose, not just speed? To avoid AI regret and maximize impact, I suggest that CMOs and agencies answer the following three questions: 1. Where in our marketing operation do WINS apply—and how digitized are those processes? 2. How can we use AI to augment human creativity and decision-making—not just automate tasks? 3. Where might strategic collaboration help us accelerate time-to-value without compromising control or insight? AI has the power to reshape marketing—but only if it's tied to real outcomes, implemented strategically and grounded in the data and workflows that actually drive business value. The winners won't be those who jumped in first. The winners will be those who used AI wisely, with the right frameworks, the right partners and the right expectations. Don't chase the hype. Find your zero bit, deploy for impact and watch the wins follow. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Bold Names Season 4
WSJ's Bold Names podcast brings you conversations with the leaders of the bold-named companies featured in the pages of The Wall Street Journal. Hosts Tim Higgins and Christopher Mims speak to CEOs and business leaders in interviews that challenge conventional wisdom and take you inside the decisions being made in the C-suite and beyond. In the first episode of Season 4, we're joined by Horacio Rozanski, CEO of Booz Allen Hamilton. The firm helps U.S. government agencies leverage the latest advances in technology used by the private sector. That gives Rozanski a front-row view of the global race to develop artificial intelligence, especially in the realm of warfare. How does he see the relationship between the U.S. government and Silicon Valley evolving?
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
The Need For AI Fluency In Modern Executive Leadership
Chaitanya Laxminarayana, Director of Data & AI at T-Mobile, leverages AI to turn data into insights that drive business growth. In today's hyper-connected, data-saturated world, AI is no longer confined to the domain of data scientists and technologists. It is rapidly becoming a central pillar of enterprise strategy, reshaping industries and redefining the nature of competitive advantage. For executive leaders, AI fluency is emerging as a critical competency—not to write code or build models, but to ask the right questions, make informed decisions and set a compelling vision for the future. Why AI Fluency Matters At The Top The strategic decisions made in the C-suite increasingly depend on the intelligent use of data. A recent MIT Technology Review Insights survey of 300 C-suite executives and senior technology leaders found that solving data management challenges is a top priority. AI is at the heart of this shift, with the survey finding that 82% of respondents said that "scaling AI or generative AI use cases to create business value" is guiding their data management efforts. This is because AI can enable more accurate forecasts, automate operations, enhance customer experiences and drive innovation. Yet, many leadership teams struggle to realize AI's full potential because they lack a working understanding of what AI can (and cannot) do. A recent Gartner report found that 77% of CEOs see how AI is reshaping businesses but think their organizational leadership lacks the capabilities "to support, drive or accelerate business outcomes" with AI. AI fluency can bridge this gap by empowering executives to: • Recognize opportunities for AI to add business value. • Assess feasibility and risks of AI initiatives. • Align AI investments with enterprise goals. • Communicate effectively with technical teams and stakeholders. This fluency fosters trust and alignment across the organization and ensures that AI projects are not just technically sound but strategically relevant. From Awareness To Action AI fluency is not about turning executives into engineers. It's about cultivating the ability to lead in an AI-driven world. This involves: 1. Understanding AI Fundamentals: Leaders should grasp key concepts such as machine learning, natural language processing and generative AI. More importantly, they should understand how these technologies translate into business use cases that support growth, efficiency and customer engagement. 2. Interpreting AI Outputs: As AI systems influence decision-making across domains—from marketing to operations to HR—executives must be able to critically assess AI outputs. This includes understanding confidence levels, identifying potential biases and recognizing when human oversight is necessary. 3. Championing Ethical And Responsible AI: With growing scrutiny around AI ethics, leaders must establish and enforce guidelines to ensure AI applications are transparent, fair and aligned with organizational values. Public trust, brand reputation and regulatory compliance depend on ethical stewardship. 4. Driving A Data-Driven Culture: AI success is deeply dependent on the health of data ecosystems. Executives play a critical role in promoting data literacy, investing in data infrastructure and encouraging decision-making rooted in data insights rather than instinct or hierarchy. Building AI Fluency Across The Leadership Team An organization can only move as fast as its slowest node of understanding. That's why building AI fluency across the leadership bench is a strategic priority. Practical steps include: • Tailored Executive Learning: Offer AI and data literacy programs designed for non-technical leaders, focusing on strategic implications rather than technical depth. • Cross-Functional Workshops: Facilitate sessions where business, technical and operational leaders co-develop AI use cases and prioritize initiatives. • AI Literacy KPIs: Embed AI fluency metrics into leadership performance reviews and strategic planning processes. • AI Ambassadors: Appoint cross-functional AI champions to bridge business and tech, accelerating adoption and buy-in. The Bottom Line In the era of AI, leadership is no longer just about vision and execution—it's about understanding the intelligent systems shaping our future. Executives who cultivate AI fluency are not only better equipped to steer their organizations through complexity; they become catalysts for innovation, trust and long-term value creation. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Tracking Strong Dividend-Increase Trends Amid Macro Uncertainty
As we put the finishing touches on a first half that was littered with uncertainty, a small treasure is seen in global dividend trends. Thirty percent of the companies Wall Street Horizon tracks announced shareholder-payout increases in the second quarterthe best Q2 mark going back to 2021. Also, just 9% of companies from around the world slashed their dividend, which was the lowest in three years. High Yield Dividend Stocks in Gurus' Portfolio This Powerful Chart Made Peter Lynch 29% A Year For 13 Years How to calculate the intrinsic value of a stock? Healthy Dividend-Hike Rate in Q2 Source: Wall Street Horizon These continue strong numbers that we profiled earlier in the year. It also bodes well for the balance of 2025, despite so much macro uncertainty (there's that word!). Indeed, now more than ever, it's important to pay attention to and deeply analyze what those in the C-suite are doing versus what they are saying. Investors have heard the constant refrain of macro headwinds and an uncertain economic landscape ad nauseam, but all the while, corporations continue to churn out profits, buy back shares, and, yes, hike dividends (on net). The upshot? Investors must seek signals and dismiss the noise. More dividend payouts mean investment teams need to adjust stock prices to reflect these corporate actions properly in order to conduct time-series analysis. TMX's Price Adjustment Curve (PAC) provides price adjustments applicable down to tick level prices or even orders, and below you can see the number of recorded adjustments for North American dividends have been steadily increasing. H1 2025 recorded 17,509 such price adjustments (as of June 22, 2025). With one week left in the second quarter that number is on track to match or beat the first half record set in 2024 of 17,771 price adjustments. Source: TMX Datalinx Accurately tracking and analyzing these crucial corporate actions, such as dividend changes, at scale presents its own set of challenges. For asset management and risk professionals, manual processes and fragmented data systems can obscure insights and increase risk. To explore this topic further, join our Data Minds webinar tomorrow, Wednesday, June 25, at 10 a.m. ET. Industry experts Judith Gu of Scotiabank and Armando Benitez of BMO Capital will explore how transforming corporate action workflows can provide the edge needed in today's fast-paced market. They will delve into the role of automation in driving timely investment insights, share real-world case studies, and discuss best practices for aligning stakeholders through integrated systems. Earlier this month, Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) announced a 7% dividend increase, bringing its quarterly distribution to $1.51.[1] An S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Index member (companies that have raised their dividends in each of the past 25 consecutive years), the all-American brand is one of many multinational corporations facing the threat of higher tariffs. Shares are merely flat on the year, but gains off the April 8 closing low have been massive, on the order of 30%-plus. The sellside is still gaming out how the future trade landscape will impact CAT. In May, the $168 billion Industrials-sector firm was upgraded to Hold from Sell at UBS amid improving US-China trade talks.[2] Then, on the same day the Texas-based blue chip announced its dividend hike, BMO Capital Markets tagged CAT as a GARP candidate (growth at a reasonable price).[3] But the stock is a far cry from its late 2024 all-time high of $419. Resting right now at its flat 200-day moving average, the bears might argue it's a dead-CAT bounce. Time will tell, but it appears the company's management team is just fine with where it's positioned heading into H2 2025. Looking ahead, Caterpillar's Q2 earnings date is Tuesday, August 5, BMO (confirmed). Turning from Industrials to the Health Care sector, UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) is battling through what may be the most tumultuous year in its five-decade history. Shares are down 39% year to date, underperforming the S&P 500 by more than 40 percentage points on a total return basis. Before 2025 began, the tragic murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December heightened public and investor scrutiny of the company. Then, in its January earnings report, higher-than-expected medical costs, particularly within its Medicare Advantage business, resulted in a soft FY 2025 profit guide.[4] Investors didn't like thatthe stock fell 6% in the session that followed the Q4 earnings report. That decline was a paper cut compared to the severe pain shareholders endured three months later. UNH plunged by more than 22% after its Q1 earnings release, its worst single-day drop in decades. Near the beginning of the earnings season in April, the company slashed its full-year profit outlook after missing on the top and bottom lines.[5] Its medical cost ratio, which is like an inverted profit margin for a health insurance company, was once again above what analysts hoped for. By the time the dust settled, what was once the largest weight in the Dow Jones Industrial Average was among the biggest S&P 500 laggards in 2025. The pain wasn't done, however. Within a month of their Q1 report, a story surfaced that UnitedHealth was the target of a US Department of Justice probe into possible Medicare fraud.[6] Another 11% was shed from the stock's value, dropping it to the No. 10 spot on the DJIA weighting list at the time. The good news? On June 6, UNH announced a $2.21 quarterly dividend, a 5.2% increase from the previous $2.10 quarterly payout.[7] Shares, so far, have stabilized above $300 after notching an intraday low of $247 on May 15. Once the biggest company by market cap in the Health Care sector, the embattled insurer faces headwinds and public scorn, but the dividend hike news is a welcome relief for its stockholders. UNH reports Q2 results on Tuesday, July 29 BMO (confirmed). Eyes now turn to the second half. There's still macro wood to chop to help clear out all this uncertainty being bandied about. We expect developments on the trade front with President Trump's July 9 reciprocal tariff pause deadline in sight. Moreover, the One Big, Beautiful Bill is still being chiseled in the Senate. Higher oil prices due to the Israel-Iran conflict add yet another wildcard into the macro shuffle, too. All the while, it's clear that Chair Powell and the rest of the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee members are standing pat on interest rates. Be on the lookout for potential volatility this week on the data front. According to our new Economic Calendar, the May Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE), the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, hits the tape this Friday. Market bulls hope for another tame update on consumer prices. Economic surprises have turned south, worries grow about the labor market, and there's increasing conflict in the Middle East. Amid so much angst and a plethora of unknowns, companies signal optimism, at least according to the high percentage of dividend hikers to slashers. Though the summer travel season is in full swing, investors stay on watch as macro and firm-specific volatility catalysts are front and centerand earnings season is just two weeks away! 1 Caterpillar Inc. Increases Dividend, Caterpillar Inc., June 11, 2025, Caterpillar upgraded to Hold from Sell at UBS as downside trade risk reduced, Seeking Alpha, Carl Surran, May 16, 2025, BMO Capital Markets spotlights GARP strategy for 16 industrial stocks, Seeking Alpha, Jason Capul, June 11, 2025, UnitedHealth Group Reports 2024 Results, UnitedHealth Group, January 16, 2025, UnitedHealth Group Reports First Quarter 2025 Results and Revises Full Year Guidance, UnitedHealth Group, April 17, 2025, UnitedHealth Group Is Under Criminal Investigation for Possible Medicare Fraud, The Wall Street Journal, Christopher Weaver, Anna Wilde Mathews, May 15, 2025, UnitedHealth raises dividend by 5.2% to $2.21, Seeking Alpha, Deepa Sarvaiya, June 6, 2025, Copyright 2025 Wall Street Horizon, Inc. All rights reserved. Do not copy, distribute, sell or modify this document without Wall Street Horizon's prior written consent. This information is provided for information purposes only. Neither TMX Group Limited nor any of its affiliated companies guarantees the completeness of the information contained in this publication, and we are not responsible for any errors or omissions in or your use of, or reliance on, the information. This publication is not intended to provide legal, accounting, tax, investment, financial or other advice and should not be relied upon for such advice. The information provided is not an invitation to purchase securities, including any listed on Toronto Stock Exchange and/or TSX Venture Exchange. TMX Group and its affiliated companies do not endorse or recommend any securities referenced in this publication. This publication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor may there be any sale of any securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. TMX, the TMX design, TMX Group, Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX, and TSX Venture Exchange are the trademarks of TSX Inc. and are used under license. Wall Street Horizon is the trademark of Wall Street Horizon, Inc. All other trademarks used in this publication are the property of their respective owners. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
