Author: openjargon

• Tesla will reward employees for "exceptional performance," according to a memo from Elon Musk obtained by BI.
• Musk told staff Tesla is working on a review that will provide merit-based stock option grants.
• The announcement follows a series of layoffs at Tesla earlier this year.

Tesla is implementing a system to reward "exceptional performance" with stock option grants.

Elon Musk told employees on Monday in a companywide email that the carmaker is working on an initiative to reward high performers at Tesla, according to three sources with knowledge of the issue and a screenshot of the email viewed by Business Insider.

"There will also ben an ongoing program to award spot option grants for anyone who does something outstanding for the company," Musk said.

Musk's announcement comes after the carmaker initiated a series of layoffs in April. The Tesla CEO told staff at the time that the company planned to eliminate more than 10% of its total workforce. The company later rehired some of the impacted employees. The carmaker has since posted dozens of jobs on its careers website, including roles in its Autopilot division and at its service centers.

Reuters was the first to report the memo. The company did not provide merit-based stock awards in 2023, Reuters reported.

Tesla, which disbanded its PR department years ago, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

One Tesla worker told BI that they felt Musk's email was proof the tide might finally be turning.

"We've been holding our breath for months and this feels like one of the first positive signs we've seen," the worker said.

It isn't the only spot of good news for Tesla over the past week. The company's efforts to reapprove Musk's pay package also came to fruition last week.

Tesla spent weeks campaigning for a proposal to reinstate Musk's compensation plan, which was valued at $55 billion when it was struck down by a Delaware judge in January. Tesla has said it plans to use shareholder approval to convince Delaware to reinstate the pay plan and Musk was quick to celebrate the vote during Tesla's annual meeting on Thursday.

Read Musk's full email to Tesla staff below:

Over the next few weeks, Tesla will be doing a comprehensive review to provide stock option grants for exceptional performance.

There will also ben an ongoing program to award spot option grants for anyone who does something outstanding for the company.

Thanks for everything you're doing to make Tesla successful,

Elon

Do you work for Tesla or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at gkay@businessinsider.com or 248-894-6012.

• I took my first cruise on Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas, one of the largest cruise ships.
• I brought only a carry-on suitcase and a backpack for the seven-night Caribbean cruise.
• I was glad I packed light but had some regrets. I longed for earplugs and a bar of laundry soap.

I took my first cruise in April 2022 on Royal Caribbean's Wonder of the Seas — one of the largest cruise ships in the world. For the seven-night cruise to the Caribbean, I brought just a carry-on suitcase and a backpack.

While packing light made the trip easier, I did forget a few critical items. Here's everything I was thankful I had during my voyage — and the items I longed for and will remember to pack next time.

One of the best things I packed was a magnet.

Stateroom decks had long hallways lined with identical blue doors, so my magnet made it easier to find my cabin.

But I wished I downloaded some movies and shows to watch on my phone in my room.

The cruise ship's WiFi wasn't strong enough for me to stream videos.

For long days in the sun, I was glad I packed sunscreen.

I enjoyed a few beach days during my cruise, so sunscreen was essential. 

However, I wished I had remembered to bring some aloe vera gel for the day I forgot to lather up.

Aloe vera typically soothes and cools my burns, so I should have packed it for the day I forgot to apply sunscreen. 

I was glad I brought a rash guard to swim in the ocean.

An excursion guide told me that some beaches in the Caribbean, like Tulum, Mexico, don't allow sunscreen in the ocean to protect wildlife.

But the water was so clear that I wished I had a waterproof case for my phone to take pictures.

As other cruisers snorkeled with phones in hand, I realized I was missing an opportunity to capture ocean life. 

This sunhat also came in handy to block the sun.

I don't typically wear my sunhat, so the cruise was the perfect occasion to pull it out of my closet.

But I wished I had brought an adjustable cap for windy days on the top decks when my sunhat wouldn't stay on my head.

Mornings and evenings on the top decks of the ship were so windy that I had to leave my hat in my room. 

Even though the weather was hot during the day, this sweater came in handy for cool, windy nights and mornings.

I ended up wearing my sweater every day during the Caribbean cruise. 

But I only packed one pair of pants and had to wear them every night.

In hindsight, I should have packed a couple more pairs of pants.

I should have brought a windbreaker, too, to keep me warmer on the top decks in the morning and at night.

A windbreaker would have been more helpful than my sweater alone.

I wished I'd brought a bar of detergent to wash my clothes since I packed light, and laundry services on the ship cost extra.

On my cruise, Royal Caribbean's laundry service charged for each article of clothing — $4 a shirt, $9 a dress, and $2 per pair of underwear.

But at least I brought the right shoes.

I packed two pairs of shoes: sneakers for walking and waterproof sandals for the beach and pools. 

Thankfully, I also remembered to bring a waist pack to carry a few things when I didn't feel like lugging my backpack around.

Having a small pack came in handy during port stops and while exploring the ship.

I was also glad I brought a digital watch to keep on ship time.

Ship time is the time zone that cruise ships adhere to even when docked at ports in different time zones.

But I wish I had downloaded guidebooks for the ports I visited to get a better idea of things to do.

My ship stopped in Roatan, Honduras; Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico; and the Bahamas. 

I wanted to try my best to avoid illness and was glad I packed vitamins …

I packed vitamins made to support immune systems since I was coming in contact with many people. 

… and also medicine to combat motion sickness, which I experienced frequently.

I always pack Dramamine on my trips to avoid motion sickness. 

More than anything, I wished I had earplugs to help me sleep during rough nights at sea, which sounded like thunder in my stateroom.

It was especially loud since I was at the front of the ship, where seasoned cruisers said movement on ships feels the strongest.

Next time, I'll come prepared.

• TPG's Jon Winkelried tops a list of highly paid CEOs. His comp was valued at $198.7 million in 2023.
• Most top CEOs' earnings come through stock awards, often payable over several years.
• The median pay package for CEOs was $23.7 million in 2023, an 11.4% increase from the prior year.

No surprise: It pays to climb your way to the top of the org chart.

The highest-paid CEOs in the US aren't necessarily household names, but they're enjoying some pretty sweet pay packages — more than enough to avoid worries about higher prices for that morning coffee.

Take Jon Winkelried, head of the private equity firm TPG Inc. The value of his pay package was $198.7 million in 2023. Winkelried topped a list of the 100 highest-paid chiefs from Equilar, which analyzes data on executive compensation.

But though many compensation numbers are big, it's not all cash. Amit Batish, senior director of content and communications at Equilar, told Business Insider that much of the top dogs' hauls come through stock awards.

"That's kind of the bread and butter of executive compensation these days," he said.

To get the payouts, CEOs often have to achieve targets such as stock price thresholds.

Regardless of how they get it, it's been a good year to be the boss. The median pay for heads of S&P 500 companies rose 12.4% to $15.5 million in 2023, according to ISS-Corporate, which provides data and analytics to global corporations.

And the median compensation package for CEOs on Equilar's list — comprised of companies with revenue of $1 billion or more — was valued at a cool $29.1 million in 2023, a jump of 20.1% from the prior year.

According to its data, that made the ratio of CEO pay to that of the median employee 312 to 1.

There are still some high-wattage chiefs a bit farther down the list, like Apple's Tim Cook, who comes in at No. 11 with compensation valued at $63.2 million, or Satya Nadella, the Microsoft CEO, at No. 16 with total comp valued at $48.5 million. They haven't yet made it to the very top yet, according to Equilar.

And then there is the head-spinning and controversial pay of Elon Musk. The Tesla CEO's all-stock 10-year compensation package — which is linked to financial targets and which shareholders recently approved, though it won't be immediately reinstated — is worth some $55 billion based on the company's recent share price.

Here are the top ten other highest-paid, plus highest-profile, CEOs.

1. Jon Winkelried, TPG

Winkelried's compensation package was valued at $198.7 million, an increase of 483%. The CEO-to-worker package for the private equity firm was 683 to 1.

The company's fiscal 2023 revenue totaled $2.39 billion.

2. Harvey Schwartz, Carlyle Group

Schwartz's compensation package was valued at $187 million. The CEO-to-worker package for the private equity firm was 813 to 1.

The company's fiscal 2023 revenue totaled $2.96 billion.

3: Hock Tan, Broadcom

The value of Tan's total compensation jumped to $161.8 million in 2023, a 167% increase over the prior year, according to Equilar. The pay ratio — how much more he takes home than the average employee of the chip and software maker — was 510 to 1.

The company had $35.8 billion in revenue in fiscal 2023.

4: Nikesh Arora, Palo Alto Networks

The value of Arora's total compensation as CEO of the cybersecurity company came to $151.4 million, a surge of 1,355%, according to Equilar. The CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 735 to 1.

Revenue reached $6.89 billion in fiscal 2023.

5: Sue Nabi, Coty

Nabi runs the beauty company Coty. The value of her compensation package was $149.4 million, an increase of 4,100%, according to Equilar. The CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 3,769 to 1.

Revenue came to $5.55 billion in fiscal 2023.

6: Christopher Winfrey, Charter Communications

Winfrey, who took the top spot at the cable company in December 2022, landed total compensation valued at $89.1 million. The boss-to-worker pay ratio was 1,635 to 1, according to Equilar.

In fiscal 2023, revenue came to $54.6 billion.

7. Ariel Emanuel, Endeavor Group Holdings

Emanuel's compensation package was valued at $83.9 million, an increase of 340%. The entertainment and media giant's CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 1,184 to 1.

The company's fiscal 2023 revenue totaled $5.96 billion.

8. Adam Foroughi, AppLovin

Foroughi's compensation package was valued at $83.4 million, an increase of 79,783%. The CEO-to-worker pay ratio for the mobile technology company was 795 to 1.

The company's fiscal 2023 revenue totaled $3.28 billion.

9. David Risher, Lyft

Risher's compensation package was valued at $78.2 million, and the rideshare company's CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 519 to 1.

The company's fiscal 2023 revenue totaled $4.4 billion.

10: Will Lansing, FICO

Lansing runs Fair Isaac Corp., which developed FICO, the most broadly used model for scoring credit. The value of his total compensation came to $66.3 million, an increase of 251%, according to Equilar. The CEO-to-worker pay ratio was 653 to 1.

The company's revenue totaled $1.5 billion in fiscal 2023.

A FICO spokesperson, through a statement to BI, said, in part: "Under Mr. Lansing's leadership the past 10 years, FICO has delivered total shareholder return that is in the top 1% of the S&P 500. Meanwhile, his base salary for 2023 was $750,000, well below industry peers and in the bottom quartile of S&P 500 CEOs."

11: Tim Cook, Apple

Cook's total compensation for running the tech giant was valued at $63.2 million, a drop of 36%, according to Equilar. The pay ratio was 672 to 1.

The company's revenue totaled $383.3 billion in fiscal 2023.

16: Satya Nadella, Microsoft

Nadella's total comp was valued at $48.5 million, a drop of 12%. The chief-to-worker ratio was 250 to 1.

The software giant's revenue was $211.9 billion in fiscal 2023.

An earlier version of this story appeared on May 3, 2024.

• As a frequent solo traveler, I've been lucky enough to visit all 50 US states.
• Although I've loved aspects of every state, there are some places I'm not in a rush to return to.
• Illinois, Indiana, and North Dakota are some of the states I don't plan to return to anytime soon.

According to market research company Ipsos, the average American has only been to 12.5 states. But as a frequent solo traveler, I've been lucky enough to visit all 50 US states.

The journey has been filled with beauty, excitement, unique destinations, and a sense of accomplishment I never could have imagined.

Although I've found beauty in all 50 states and would honestly return to them all, there are some that I'm in less of a rush to visit again.

Whether the landscapes just weren't for me or the distance to travel was too great, here are the five states I'm not in a hurry to return to.

I enjoyed traveling to Indiana but would prefer to visit other states in the Midwest.

Although I haven't visited every corner of Indiana and enjoyed my previous visits, I don't see myself returning anytime soon.

I prefer visiting many of the states around Indiana and am constantly working to get back to them. For example, Michigan and Wisconsin are two of my favorite places to visit.

Although Indiana has a major national park, Indiana Dunes, I'd rather visit the sand dunes in Michigan or simply head to Chicago, which is less than an hour from the park.

North Dakota is beautiful but more difficult to navigate.

In my opinion, North Dakota is one of the country's most otherworldly and beautiful states. Although I think it's worth a visit for anyone who appreciates plains, prairies, badlands, and wildlife, it is — to me — the sort of place that's a once-in-a-lifetime visit.

The state's remoteness and lack of larger cities (only Fargo has over 100,000 residents) make it a place that isn't necessarily as easy to just take a weekend trip to.

Since things are more spread out, this trip requires more planning than others. So, while I'd love to go back eventually, I likely won't find myself there again soon.

I found Kansas to be a bit monotonous.

Although Kansas has more to offer than the traditional plains many people think of, I find the landscape to be somewhat monotonous.

However, I did love exploring hidden gems like Monument Rocks' giant chalk formations, which rise dramatically from the plains.

Although the state's mostly rural and agricultural nature is charming, I'd rather be in nearby Colorado or Missouri for more diverse landscapes.

I'd rather visit South Dakota or Wyoming than Nebraska.

Because I have family in Nebraska, I find myself in the state quite often.

Due to its proximity to my home in Colorado, I've visited Nebraska dozens of times and have traveled to many outdoor recreation opportunities, parks, and unique destinations throughout the state.

Although I've had a blast exploring Omaha's vibrant art scene, and Scotts Bluff National Monument is simply stunning, the landscape is still not one I would choose over the surrounding areas in South Dakota or Wyoming.

I don't love the remoteness of some of Nevada's highways.

This one is tough because Nevada's state parks are some of the most amazing in the country. I even have fun on an occasional trip to Las Vegas. The only problem I have with Nevada is the remoteness of some of the highways.

The state is home to what Life magazine dubbed the "Loneliest Road in America" in 1986. The stretch of US Route 50 that crosses the state is remote, isolated, and vast.

I've enjoyed driving the road and other areas of the state multiple times. But lately, I've felt more comfortable knowing that others are nearby when I'm traveling solo.

• I made Dolly Parton's easy corn bread for breakfast. 
• The recipe only has three main ingredients and is ready in almost 30 minutes.  
• Parton's recipe may be simple, but her corn bread is delicious and goes well with everything.

I sat down with Dolly Parton and realized she's an expert when it comes to all things Southern food.

On top of being a legendary musician and a fashion icon, Parton is also a great chef. 

The country-music star shared plenty of her cooking secrets with me, including her hack for making the fluffiest scrambled eggs and the unique ingredient she uses to elevate her mac and cheese. 

Parton also revealed what she loves whipping up in the kitchen for Carl Dean, her husband of 56 years, or her goddaughter Miley Cyrus. 

"Miley and I both love Southern food like mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and a big ol' hunk of corn bread — making corn-bread muffins or a big pan of it with the squares," Parton told me.

I loved trying Parton's usual Taco Bell order. So when I stumbled on her corn-bread recipe, I knew I had to give it a go.

Parton's corn-bread recipe began circulating online after it was featured in her cookbook.

Parton's cookbook, "Dolly's Dixie Fixin's: Love, Laughter, and Lots of Good Food," was released in 2016. It features 125 recipes, including dishes that Parton always loves whipping up on tour or at home. As true Dolly Parton fans know, the cookbook is no longer readily available. If you want a copy on Amazon, you'll have to fork over more than $200. 

But Parton's corn-bread recipe has popped up on various websites, and the official Dollywood Facebook page also shared it in 2014. Parton wrote in her cookbook that when it comes to corn bread, she loves to keep things simple. 

"Coarse cornmeal, buttermilk, bacon drippings, and salt and pepper. Mixed together and baked in a slick black skillet. Served hot. Now that's my idea of real corn bread," she wrote. "There's nothin' you can't eat with a warm wedge of corn bread alongside it. That's why I always take two pieces and slather them with butter while they're still warm." 

I'm not much of a baker, but Parton's recipe sounded foolproof — even for me. There were still some challenges along the way, but the finished product was definitely worth it. 

The first time I tried to make Parton's corn bread was kind of a disaster.

When I first found Parton's recipe online, I didn't think I needed to double-check the ingredients. So when I saw that it called for two cups of cornmeal, I just bought the same box I had used to make Ina Garten's (very delicious) brown-butter skillet corn bread for Friendsgiving. 

When the corn bread came out of the oven, I knew I’d made a huge mistake.

When I first tasted the corn bread, I couldn't figure out what went wrong. But it tasted pretty terrible, and I just knew there was no way I had done Parton's recipe justice. 

Thankfully, after a little more research, I stumbled on the original page from Parton's cookbook and found her actual ingredient list. Parton had specified that her recipe requires self-rising cornmeal, and she recommended using Martha White cornmeal "because I like the texture." In retrospect, it seems obvious that the recipe would require self-rising cornmeal since Parton doesn't add any baking powder or eggs to her batter. But alas, this baking novice just didn't catch it. 

The great thing about cooking, though, is you can always try again. So I found some Martha White cornmeal and went back to the kitchen.

Parton's skillet corn bread has just a few main ingredients.

To make Parton's corn bread (which has eight servings), you'll need: 

• 2 cups self-rising cornmeal (she recommends Martha White or White Lily) 
• 1-1 ½ cups buttermilk 
• 2 teaspoons bacon drippings, plus extra for the skillet 
• 1 teaspoon salt

I began by making the bacon drippings.

Before I got started, I read this helpful article from CookingLight on the best technique for making bacon drippings. Instead of cooking full bacon strips, I cut the meat into small pieces and spread them out on my 9-inch skillet so the bacon would render evenly. 

I cooked my bacon over medium-low heat until it turned crispy and I could see plenty of drippings at the bottom of the pan. Then I removed the pieces, letting them rest on a plate lined with a paper towel. Parton said the skillet should be covered with extra bacon drippings, so I didn't wipe it clean after I finished cooking. 

You could easily whip up Parton's recipe after you've made breakfast or save the bacon to eat alongside her corn bread. Either way, it's a win-win.

It was time to whip up the batter!

First I added two cups of the self-rising cornmeal to a large bowl. 

Then I added some salt and the bacon drippings.

The first recipe I found online actually called for two tablespoons of bacon drippings instead of two teaspoons. I didn't realize that Parton's recipe was different before I made the corn bread again, so I accidentally added extra. 

But the flavor still came out great, so feel free to add more bacon drippings if you wish.

Last but not least was the buttermilk.

Dolly recommends gradually adding the buttermilk while stirring everything with a wooden spoon. You'll know the batter is ready when the consistency is thick but smooth. 

I poured my batter into the hot skillet and popped it in the oven.

Barely 10 minutes of prep had passed and my corn bread was ready to bake.

I threw my skillet into the oven at 425 degrees Fahrenheit and let it cook for 25 minutes. Parton says you'll know the corn bread is ready if it springs back when you tap it. 

My second attempt at Parton's corn bread came out beautiful.

I sighed with relief when I opened the oven. The corn bread had a pretty golden hue and looked promisingly fluffy — a far cry from the weird, acid-yellow bread I had made in my first attempt. 

And Parton's corn bread tasted super fluffy and moist.

Parton said her corn bread should be served "HOT!" so we dug right in after I took it out of the oven. 

And the difference between my two attempts was like night and day. Parton's corn bread was absolutely delicious. The texture was perfectly pillowy and the bacon drippings added an extra touch of savory richness. I paired some of Parton's corn bread with a peach jam we had on hand, and the sweet and savory combination blew me away. I made the corn bread for breakfast while spending a week with my parents, and they were both huge fans as well. 

Just make sure you enjoy the corn bread fresh from the skillet. I tried some leftovers the next day and found it dried up very quickly. 

I would definitely make Parton's corn bread for an easy breakfast or side dish.

The best part about Parton's corn bread is that it's ridiculously easy and quick. You can prep and bake it in almost 30 minutes, and this corn bread would go well with everything. I'd love to pair it with a hearty dinner or experiment with some hot honey and different jams for breakfast. 

Either way, I know Parton's corn bread definitely won't disappoint. 

• NASA approved the $19.5 million Landolt Space Mission to send an artifical star into Earth's orbit. 
• It will be the first astronomical tool of its kind that could revolutionize the way we study space.
• The mission could help many areas of astronomy from studying exoplanets to the universe's expansion.

Astronomers typically deal with the very, very large — big telescopes, giant galaxies, and massive exploding stars.

But one of the more revolutionary astronomy tools of the decade is a mini satellite about the size of a breadbox. The satellite will act like an artificial star for astronomers to observe from the ground, allowing them to more accurately measure a space object's brightness and better understand some of the biggest mysteries in our universe, like dark energy.

NASA recently approved the $19.5 million Landolt Space Mission to launch the mini satellite into Earth's orbit.

"This is some really awesome science that NASA is supporting," Tyler Richey-Yowell, a postdoctoral researcher at Lowell Observatory who studies stellar astronomy and exoplanets, told Business Insider. "It's something that's going to help out all astronomers."

A revolutionary new tool for astronomers

The mini-satellite, called CubeSat, is designed to orbit Earth from 22,236 miles away. At that distance, its speed will match Earth's spin so the satellite will appear fixed in the night sky and will be an easy target for telescopes to track.

You won't be able to see it with the naked eye. But to telescopes, it'll look like a star. The mission is scheduled to launch in 2029. It will be the first tool of its kind.

"This is really new for us to have some sort of artificial star quote unquote up there that we can go and rely on and use," Richey-Yowell told BI.

What makes this "artificial star" better than a real one is that astronomers will know exactly how much light it's emitting.

The CubeSat, named Landolt for the late astronomer Arlo Landolt, will fire lasers with a specific number of light particles, or photons, which astronomers can use to calibrate their telescopes for measuring light.

This can help eliminate a lot of the guesswork that astronomers do now when using real stars to calibrate their instruments.

The problem is that there's no way of knowing exactly how much light real stars emit because we can't send a probe to one to accurately measure its brightness, Richey-Yowell said. Moreover, Earth's atmosphere absorbs a lot of light from space, which can also affect astronomers' calibrations.

"That's why this Landolt mission is so important," Richey-Yowell said. "If we send up a mission like this one where we know exactly how many photons, how much light per second, is coming from this CubeSat," then we can use it to compare and more precisely measure the light from other objects, like real stars, she said.

The mission is expected to help astronomers measure the light emitted from stars with 10 times more accuracy than current estimates, LiveScience reported.

It's like if you were given a 1,000-piece puzzle that only had half the amount of pieces, and then someone gifted you a few hundred more pieces. Landolt will help astronomers catch minute details they've otherwise been missing in the data.

How Landolt could revolutionize astronomy

"All of our astronomy is based on light, and so we really need to know how much light we are actually receiving," Richey-Yowell said.

You can learn a lot from a ray of light: a star's temperature, its mass, the types of exoplanets orbiting it, and whether they could potentially harbor life.

For example, knowing how hot a host star is can tell you how far an exoplanet must be in order to sustain liquid water on its surface, Richey-Yowell said. Water is one of the main ingredients for life as we know it, and one of the key features astrobiologists search for when scoping out potential planets that could harbor life.

Finding more Earth-like planets is just the beginning. Astronomers can also use Landolt to measure light from distant exploding stars, called supernovae, that help calculate the expansion rate of the universe.

Right now, cosmologists studying the universe's expansion face a huge challenge: they can't settle on a single value for the expansion rate. Some methods lead to one value while others lead to a slightly different one. This conundrum could be key to figuring out some of the biggest mysteries of the universe, like understanding the invisible force ripping our universe apart that we call dark energy.

"So really anything from small, tiny planets to the whole scale of the universe relies on our understanding of stars and how bright they are and what kind of light they're emitting," Richey-Yowell said. "I really do think it will be revolutionary for astronomy."

• Elon Musk himself had said in 2023 that X's revenue was down.
• Now we have numbers to back it up.
• X revenues plunged 40% in the months after Elon Musk took over, Bloomberg reported.

Elon Musk was right: X did lose lots of revenue when he took over.

X revenues plunged in the wake of Elon Musk's fraught acquisition of the social media giant, new documents obtained by Bloomberg reportedly show.

According to regulatory filings seen by Bloomberg, X generated $1.48 billion in revenue in the first half of 2023 — down roughly 40% from the first six months of 2022 before Musk's takeover.

Musk completed his $44 billion Twitter purchase in October 2022.

The docs obtained by Bloomberg also show X lost $456 million in the first quarter of 2023.

X responded to a request for comment from Business Insider with an auto-reply stating, "Busy now, please check back later."

Musk's relationship with the advertising community — where X makes most of its money — has been strained.

At an event in 2023, he infamously told advertisers to go "fuck" themselves after several — including Disney, IBM, Apple, and Lionsgate — abandoned the platform following a post by Musk that was criticized as antisemitic.

Advertisers also fled last year as reports revealed that certain ads were appearing against white supremacist and antisemitic content.

The documents obtained by Bloomberg were filed by X to state regulators in its quest to build a Venmo-esque, peer-to-peer payment platform.

Also of note in the filings, according to Bloomberg: despite Musk's longstanding interest in cryptocurrency, X Payments told Maine regulators that it has no plans to facilitate transactions with virtual currencies.

Musk, a cofounder of PayPal, has outlined a grander vision for X as an "everything" app, where users could base their "entire financial world."

He's previously floated a high-yield savings feature to incentivize users to keep money on X.

• Elon Musk shared some of his favorite podcasts and audiobooks on a recent livestream.
• He said he's "a big history guy" and named several including "The Explorers" and "Hardcore History."
• Here's the full list of recommendations he shared.

Elon Musk recently shared some of his favorite podcasts, and —spoiler alert — they're mostly on the subject of history.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO was asked for podcast recommendations on a stream on his platform X, formerly Twitter, last week.

"I like history podcasts in general," he said, according to one Tesla fan's recap of the 5-hour livestream. "I just generally love history. Any kind of narrative is just a story really, it's a story about reality or at least someone's perception of reality."

Musk named the "Explorers Podcast," which focuses on "the lives, explorations and discoveries of history's greatest explorers," according to its website. He's also a fan of "The Age of Napoleon Podcast," which is described as centering on "the life and career of Napoleon Bonaparte as well as the general context of Europe between the early eighteenth and early nineteenth century."

Dan Carlin's "Hardcore History" podcast — known for its "unique blend of high drama, masterful narration and Twilight Zone-style twists," according to its Apple Podcasts page — is "probably my top recommendation," Musk said.

Musk also shared some of his favorites in another medium: audiobooks. He likes "The Story of Civilization" by Will and Ariel Durant as well as the Penguin edition of "The Iliad."

Musk has recommended several other books over the years, including sci-fi novels and books on artificial intelligence.

• Henrik Fisker's second automotive startup filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday.
• Fisker was pitched as a Tesla rival, but workers say mismanagement led to compounding problems.
• Business Insider spoke with 27 former and current Fisker staff that charted the startup's downfall.

Fisker's staff was in chaos as they prepared to deliver the company's first batch of electric cars to US customers.

It had been four years since famed automotive designer Henrik Fisker unveiled his Tesla rival, an SUV called the Ocean, and the vehicle still wasn't ready.

In the weeks leading up to the big June 2023 event, Fisker staff raced to fix faulty parts on at least four of the 22 EVs that were set to be delivered — even stripping parts off the CEO and CFO's personal cars to repair the vehicles, including door handles and seat sensors, according to 11 sources familiar with the incident.

Two days later, Fisker board member Wendy Gruel's Ocean SUV, one of the cars that had been delivered at the event, shut off on a public road while going full speed, five sources said. Later, the same thing happened to Geeta Gupta-Fisker, Henrik's wife and the company's CFO and COO, workers said.

A Fisker spokesperson denied that workers used parts from pre-production vehicles for customer cars and said Gruel's car didn't stop on a public road. The company said Gupta-Fisker's vehicle had malfunctioned, but the issue was resolved.

When TechCrunch previously reported the incident with Gruel's car, the publication said the company had confirmed the incident and said the issue was fixed.

The issue was unrelated to Fisker's part swapping, but one thing was clear: the electric cars had barely hit the road and already the problems were piling up.

Henrik Fisker's EV startup seemed to be an easy sell at first. The 60-year-old automotive veteran boasts a long history in the industry, known for being the designer behind the Aston Martin V8, the BMW Z8 roadster that famously appeared in a 1999 James Bond film, and helping design Tesla's Model S.

Even though it was Henrik's second automotive startup after his first company went out of business in 2013, some workers told Business Insider that it was easy to dismiss worries early on that his second company could meet the same fate.

For his part, Henrik said he planned to do things differently this time. He would follow Apple's model by outsourcing production through Magna International and he also aimed to target the middle of the market with a more affordable EV option that could compete with Tesla's best-selling Model Y. Fisker Inc emerged in 2016 and went public in 2020 via a SPAC backed by Apollo Global Management. At one point, the company's market value soared as high as $8 billion.

At the time, Fisker was one of several EV startups to burst onto the scene — Rivian, Lucid, and Lordstown all wanted the chance to compete with Tesla. Since then, production and market headwinds have pushed some EV startups to shutter and major players like Ford and GM to scale back their electric-vehicle operations. Even Tesla has struggled, seeing revenue decline and layoffs.

"I was hopeful at first," one former VP, who worked at both Fisker startups, said. "Initially, at least, it seemed like he'd learned from his mistakes. It became obvious later on that they hadn't."

A Fisker spokesperson said it would be "unfair" to compare the two companies.

On Monday, the company announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after months of struggling to stay afloat. The company cited "various market and macroeconomic headwinds."

Business Insider spoke with over two dozen current and former Fisker employees who worked at the startup during various periods from its launch in 2016 to the present. The workers, whose identities are known to BI, requested anonymity as they were not authorized to comment on Fisker's behalf and feared professional reprisal.

A husband and wife duo who workers say mismanaged their way into a mess

Many of Fisker's woes can be traced back to the husband-wife duo that launched the brand, multiple former and current workers told BI.

They described a disorganized environment in which unqualified people were brought in to lead major programs and basic automotive standards were ignored.

While Henrik often served as a figurehead, Gupta-Fisker was heavily involved in everyday decisions, including on the engineering side, 11 workers said. Prior to taking on the role of CFO and COO at Fisker, Gupta-Fisker had served as an investment manager for the Fisker family office and as an advisor at a nonprofit. She had no prior experience in the automotive industry. But at Fisker, the workers said she managed deals with Magna and outside parts suppliers, frequently popped into engineering meetings, and weighed in on everything from parts purchases to software decisions.

A spokesperson for Magna declined to comment on Fisker. A Fisker spokesperson denied comments that Henrik took on a more passive role and said he was "deeply involved."

49-year-old Gupta-Fisker quickly became known in the company for her shrewd cost-cutting abilities. But, her strategy meant that at times Fisker ended up using components that didn't match the correct specifications for the Ocean, five former and current workers said. Gupta-Fisker made several decisions to use cheaper parts against Fisker executive and Magana executives' advice, two workers said. The mismatches led to issues with over-the-air updates, the five workers said.

The company said Magna oversaw the majority of parts sourcing and a "significant" amount of the parts came from Magna and its suppliers.

In conversations with BI, staff blamed many of the Ocean's faults on the cost-cutting efforts.

Several workers said that in the months leading up to the vehicle's launch, they filed internal reports recommending that the product undergo further testing and development before its release. They said they were told the company planned to proceed anyway.

"The focus was on getting the car to market as soon as possible," one former worker said. "The overarching belief was we could fix things with updates later on."

A Fisker spokesperson said Magna was responsible for testing and releasing the Ocean and it had been fully certified by regulators in the US and Europe. The company has been sending out over-the-air updates since 2023, the company said.

Ahead of the release, Fisker engineers were aware of multiple issues with the vehicle, according to five current and former workers, as well as internal documents viewed by Business Insider. Engineers had identified issues with the effectiveness of the car's door handles, key fobs, and seat sensors.

Over the past year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched four investigations into Fisker's SUV, including issues with inadvertent braking and flaws in the vehicle's door latch system. The company said it is cooperating with NHTSA.

Fisker has also faced dozens of lemon law lawsuits. Last week, Fisker issued a recall for a software-related issue that it said caused some of its vehicles to suddenly lose power.

Cutting corners led to compounding issues

In its haste to bring the car to market, Fisker failed to set up an effective system for processing repair orders and warranty claims, seven current and former workers said. Technicians were tasked with filling out the work orders and many of them said they hadn't been trained on the process.

In lieu of a working warranty system, some workers began processing the repairs without the proper California Bureau of Automotive Repair codes and EPA license numbers, using "123456" as a placeholder on a number of repairs, according to an internal document viewed by BI. In March, a VP at Fisker warned the issue made the company non-compliant with NHTSA protocols and unable to properly track and report safety concerns.

A Fisker spokesperson said the issue was "an internal error with only draft work orders early in the service process that was immediately corrected."

Without a proper system to process warranties or repair orders, the majority of repairs went unaccounted for, seven current and former workers said. That meant there wasn't an adequate way for Fisker to keep track of which parts were being used for repairs for its own financial records. It also meant many customers did not get a record of their repairs, workers said.

Meanwhile, Fisker also struggled to find the necessary parts for all of the fixes. The company hadn't set up much inventory for aftersales parts, so some of the parts used for customer fixes either came directly off the factory line, meaning they were meant for production vehicles, or the parts were stripped off pre-production and production vehicles, 11 workers with knowledge of the issue said.

In one instance, Fisker stripped parts off an engineering test vehicle that had been shipped from Magna's facility in Graz, Austria under an import bond, according to three former workers and emails viewed by BI. The vehicle was supposed to be destroyed in its entirety shortly after it was delivered to comply with the terms of the import. This is typically within a year, according to NHTSA, but the period can be extended in one-year increments up to 3 years. The vehicle's parts were not intended to be used for customers' cars.

The company denied any test vehicles had been used for parts and said all vehicles that had been imported for testing were destroyed under NHTSA's supervision within the allotted time period.

The spokesperson also denied that Fisker had a shortage of after-sales parts: "The Service department made its own forecast for parts, based on their sector knowledge. The Purchasing department supported those requests."

Fisker staff also looked for clever ways to address the parts shortage. In some instances, workers who visited Graz were told by managers to bring parts back in their suitcases to avoid paying import fees, seven workers said. One worker recalled having to leave personal belongings behind to fit air vents and key fobs into their luggage; another said they packed a larger bag to fit trim panels.

Fisker declined to comment on the claims.

A sales scramble amid negative reviews and vanishing demand

Fisker was initially successful in generating interest in the Ocean, with over 65,000 reservations initially placed.

But in the year since the Ocean's release, the company has delivered around 7,000 vehicles, a Fisker spokesperson said. Negative reviews — including YouTuber MKBHD calling it the "worst care I've ever reviewed" — took a toll on the brand, driving thousands of would-be customers to cancel their reservations.

In November, Fisker moved to bring in hiring recruiters to help sell the vehicle, as well as orchestrate the delivery of the car after the sale had been processed, six former workers said. In many cases, the recruiters, who had initially been brought onto the human resources team, had zero experience in automotive sales.

A Fisker spokesperson said that recruiting staff did join the sales efforts, though the company said they were asked to stay because they were successful in the new role.

Selling the car wasn't easy either. The recruiters found themselves directly competing with the company's established sales team and there weren't enough leads to go around. Four former workers said Fisker's reservation numbers included many duplicate names in its count and it was difficult to track which customers had connected with a sales worker. As a result, some people on the reservation list would find themselves getting multiple calls per day from different Fisker representatives.

At one point, sales workers were instructed to target customers who had canceled their orders and pepper them with calls in an attempt to get them to reverse their decision, three former workers said.

Fisker also began hosting pop-up events to boost sales, including events in partnership with fan blog Fiskerati, two former employees told BI. The events varied from meetups at Panera parking lots to larger-scale test drive events. In at least one instance, the event was shut down after Fisker failed to get permission from the owner of the location, the two sources said. Queues of Fisker owners that needed repairs also showed up at the events, three former workers said. Fisker told BI that the event hosted at Panera was not a company event.

"Sometimes it was hard to sell the cars when you'd take someone on a test drive and any number of error messages would pop up," one former worker from sales said. "As time went on and it became clear the writing was on the wall, we became even more honest with the customers on the risk," they added.

Fisker said it was aware of the ADAS issues but it was fixed with an update.

Meanwhile, some customers who'd canceled their orders and never paid for the car ended up mistakenly receiving delivery of the vehicle anyway, four former workers said. Former Fisker Ocean owner Kurt Mechling told BI he received delivery of the vehicle before he'd signed off on the order or had his payment successfully processed.

In March, TechCrunch reported that Fisker temporarily "lost track of millions of dollars in customer payments" for multiple months. Four workers with knowledge of the issue confirmed to BI the incident involving misplaced payments occurred.

When the carmaker conducted an internal audit in December over the issue, workers began scrambling to find the missing payments and bring some of the vehicles that had been mistakenly delivered back, the workers said. Some workers were encouraged by upper management to threaten the customers by saying they'd put them on a repossession list which could impact their credit score, the former workers said.

A Fisker spokesperson said the company had an "organized process" to address issues with vehicles that had not been paid for that was in line with industry standards.

Filing for bankruptcy — again

Fisker had been facing the possibility of bankruptcy for months.

Fisker warned in March that it might go out of business within the year. The stock was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in April after it fell to 9 cents per share.

Fisker warned staff in an April filing that they could be laid off if the company couldn't find a buyer or additional investor. The company brought in a chief restructuring officer who was given "sole authority" over some financial matters, including a potential sale, as part of an agreement with one of its investors.

Fisker also dropped prices by as much as $24,000 for some versions of the vehicle and conducted a series of layoffs that whittled the company down to the bone.

Ahead of the bankruptcy filing, Fisker's workforce consisted of less than 100 people, according to two sources with knowledge of the issue. The remaining workers were involved in last-ditch efforts to offload the company's remaining inventory, the people said.

A week before the bankruptcy filing, Fisker denied it had less than 100 workers left and told BI it continues to sell vehicles in the US and in Europe. It declined to specify how many workers remained.

In its Chapter 11 filing, Fisker said that its manufacturing pause would remain in place but that it plans to file "customary motions" with the bankruptcy court to ensure it can continue to pay employee wages and its vendors.

Over the past few months, workers have expressed dissatisfaction with what they view as Henrik and Gupta-Fisker's inability to take accountability for their actions. A Fisker spokesperson pushed back on the comments questioning Henrik's business prowess.

For Henrik, whose earlier company, Fisker Automotive, filed for bankruptcy in 2013, his present predicament echoes the past.

"I think it's a story of ego. He wanted to make a car and stamp his name on it. Henrik is a great designer, but he doesn't have the business acumen beyond that," an individual who worked with Henrik at several companies, including his first automotive startup. "The lessons he should have learned from the first startup were never implemented and he rushed a car to market once again."

June 18, 2024: Updated to reflect that Fisker filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

June 12, 2024: Added clarification that NHTSA requires temporarily imported vehicles to be destroyed within 3 years and that Fisker said it had done so within the allotted time period.

Do you work for an EV company like Fisker or Tesla? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work email and device at gkay@businessinsider.com or 248-894-6012.

• Ecolab manages water-purification and water-treatment systems.
• The company, which has been around for a century, uses AI to inform new projects.
• This article is part of "CXO AI Playbook" — straight talk from business leaders on how they're testing and using AI.

For "CXO AI Playbook," Business Insider takes a look at mini case studies about AI adoption across industries, company sizes, and technology DNA. We've asked each of the featured companies to tell us about the problems they're trying to solve with AI, who's making these decisions internally, and their vision for using AI in the future.

Ecolab, a company headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, focusing on water management, hygiene, and infection prevention, works across 40 industries. Tens of thousands of its associates help optimize water use and maintain safe water environments for millions of customers in more than 170 countries.

Situation analysis: What problem was the company trying to solve?

Kevin Doyle, Ecolab's chief digital officer, told Business Insider that while Ecolab has deep institutional knowledge, digging into it to help clients can sometimes be tricky. "We've got water expertise that we've had for 100 years and have been out working with clients and customers assessing those operations and making recommendations" based on that history, he said.

Ecolab's business involves assessing a client's operations to understand their needs and challenges. Those findings are then used to develop plans to drive water and energy savings through tailored programs that include science-based chemistry, digital insights, and extensive expertise.

Ecolab's associates — generally chemical engineers — carry out these assessments and make recommendations to customers. Doyle said decades-old recommendations could be valuable for clients' current decision-making, but only if the company has access to them.

"That could have been lost on that person's hard drive or in that person's mind only," he said. "What's now happening is it's documented in a repository of data that we're then able to serve up" to associates using generative AI.

Key staff and partners

Ecolab's AI acceleration lab initiated the project, which is now used by thousands of employees working directly with customers and uploading data to the system. Doyle said those field associates also use generative AI to analyze information stored in the company's existing filing systems.

AI in action

The system started with a mobile application and a recommendation screen, and a chatbot was added later, Doyle said. "We could see either a recommendation based on best practices or what was contained in a knowledge repository, or somebody could ask a question, like, 'I'm trying to install water meters on this size pipe, what type of meter should I order?'" he said.

Adopting generative AI means Ecolab's representatives can harness information and insights from clients around the world.

"Maybe it's another person in southeast Iowa who goes into a similar-type plant, they have a similar customer with similar characteristics," he said. "It will make a recommendation based on the AI that will say, 'You could implement these programs and projects,' or 'Your peers have done this to create value: Is it something that's interesting to you?'"

Did it work, and how did leaders know?

Doyle said Ecolab had seen benefits from integrating generative AI in customer outreach, advisory, and briefing processes.

"It has enabled those out in the field to make decisions and ensures their on-the-ground insights are not lost within the organization," he said.

"We've seen increases already in the early stages of that program in the hundreds of millions of dollars of value creation and value potential," he added.

Doyle said AI will help the company make quicker decisions, which means "our existing team will be able to serve more customers and deliver greater value."

What's next?

Doyle said Ecolab's AI acceleration lab was testing further ways to use generative AI. "We're trying to apply that to even broader knowledge sets and certainly across all of our businesses," he said, referring to firms within the 40 industries Ecolab serves. Those broader knowledge sets include the nuanced processes in each industry, such as an associate's experience with supporting cooling water systems or identifying product quality issues.

By applying AI to new data, Doyle said they're able to take in more information to "get our people to the most impactful locations, whether that's to create value through a project or to fix something that's not operating as it should and causing other problems."

We want to hear from you. If you are interested in sharing your company's AI journey, email jhood@businessinsider.com.