(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is once again warning parents and caregivers not to use any models of Fisher-Price’s Rock ‘n Play sleepers, a type of chair used to soothe and rock infants to sleep.
The safety agency released the repeat announcement Monday, nearly three years after the Rock ‘n Play sleepers were first recalled in April 2019.
The recall applies to approximately 4.7 million sleeper products, many of which were sold between 2009 and 2019 at major retailers such as Target and Walmart and online on e-commerce sites like Amazon.
The sleepers were recalled in 2019 after 30 children were reported to have died after they were placed in a Rock ‘n Play sleeper and “rolled from their back to their stomach or side while unrestrained, or under other circumstances.” Since the initial announcement, there have been reports of at least 70 more children who have died in connection to the sleeper, according to the CPSC.
Both recall announcements add, “Fisher-Price notes that in some of the reports, it has been unable to confirm the circumstances of the incidents or that the product was a Rock ‘n Play Sleeper.”
Fisher-Price immediately stopped sales of the sleeper following the recall, and worked to remove the product from the market.
A congressional investigation was launched following the initial recall, and in June 2021, the House Oversight Committee released its findings, alleging that Fisher-Price “ignored multiple warnings that the Rock ‘n Play was not safe for infant sleep, including reports of infant injuries and deaths,” according to former Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the committee chair at the time.
When reached for comment, Fisher-Price told ABC News’ Good Morning America it had no new statement on the matter, but the company told ABC News back in June 2021 that there “is nothing more important” to the company than the safety of its products and that its “hearts go out to every family who has suffered a loss.”
“The Rock ‘n Play Sleeper was designed and developed following extensive research, medical advice, safety analysis, and more than a year of testing and review,” a Fisher-Price spokesperson said at the time. “It met or exceeded all applicable regulatory standards. As recently as 2017, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) proposed to adopt the ASTM voluntary standard for a 30-degree angled inclined sleeper as federal law.”
Fisher-Price has had to issue consumer alerts about other rocker models before and issued a notice to consumers to stop using their Infant-to-Toddler and Newborn-to-Toddler rockers for sleep in June 2022.
In addition to Fisher-Price’s rocker recall, Kids2 also re-announced a recall Monday for its rocking sleepers, which were also initially recalled in April 2019.
CPSC recommends parents stop using the Rock ‘n Play at once and said consumers can contact Fisher-Price for a refund or a voucher.
(NEW YORK) — More than 7,000 nurses at two hospitals in New York City went on strike early Monday morning demanding better pay, better working conditions and more staffing.
The strike began at 6 a.m. after nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai Hospital in Harlem failed to reach an agreement with hospital administration during a bargaining session Sunday night, according to the New York State Nurses’ Association.
“These nurses are dedicated professionals who provide quality patient care under unimaginable conditions day in and day out that were exacerbated by the pandemic,” Mario Cilento, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, a labor union, said in a statement Monday. “Now they are faced with the added challenge of short staffing that has reached critical levels and could compromise their ability to provide the best quality care to their patients.”
“It is time for the hospitals to treat these nurses fairly, with the dignity and respect they deserve, and to negotiate in good faith, quickly, to ensure nurses can get back to serving their communities by providing superior care to their patients,” the statement continued.
Strikes are occurring at three locations in the Bronx and one location in Manhattan and will occur until 7 p.m.
In a statement, Montefiore Medical Center said it offered a 19.1% compounded wage increase and promised to create more than 170 new nursing positions ahead of the strike.
“We remain committed to seamless and compassionate care, recognizing that the union leadership’s decision will spark fear and uncertainty across our community,” the statement read.
Separately, Philip Ozuah, president of Montefiore Hospital, wrote a memo to staff members claiming the strike was unnecessary because all parties are allegedly near a final agreement. He added that the nurses turned down an offer that “exceeded the terms already agreed to at the wealthiest of our peer institutions”.
Mount Sinai told ABC News in a statement it also offered a 19.1% increased wage proposal but that nurses rejected the offer.
“Our first priority is the safety of our patients. We’re prepared to minimize disruption, and we encourage Mount Sinai nurses to continue providing the world-class care they’re known for, in spite of NYSNA’s strike,” Mount Sinai officials said.
During a press conference Monday afternoon, Nancy Hagans, president of the NYSNA said the current contract does not address nurse/patient ratios — which they are calling for and has led to stalled negotiations. She also claimed hospitals did not want to be held “accountable.”
Mount Sinai said it was preparing for the strike by “diverting a majority of ambulances,” starting “to cancel some elective surgeries … perform emergency surgery only,” “starting to transfer patients” to other hospitals and medical centers, and “working to safely discharge as many patients as appropriate,” according to an internal memo obtained by New York ABC station WABC-TV.
Gov. Kathy Hochul called for binding arbitration Sunday night to avert a strike, but union officials did not accept the proposal.
“Gov. Hochul should listen to frontline Covid nurse heroes and respect our federally protected labor and collective bargaining rights,” NYSNA said in a statement. “Nurses don’t want to strike. Bosses have pushed us to strike by refusing to seriously consider our proposals to address the desperate crisis of unsafe staffing that harms our patients.”
The NYSNA also urged New Yorkers to not be fearful or concerned about seeking medical care due to the shrike.
“To all of our patients, to all New Yorkers, we want to be absolutely clear: If you are sick, please do not delay getting medical care, regardless of whether we are on strike,” the organization tweeted. “In fact, we invite you to come join us on the strike line after you’ve gotten the care you need.”
The New York State Department of Health said it’s “working closely with affected hospitals to ensure the health and safety of patients as the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) strikes proceed at Mount Sinai and Montefiore Hospitals.” The department said it was continuing to monitor the safety and staffing of patients.
ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik and Eric Strauss contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — More than 7,000 nurses at two hospitals in New York City went on strike early Monday morning demanding better pay, better working conditions and more staffing.
The strike began at 6 a.m. after nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai Hospital in Harlem failed to reach an agreement with hospital administration during a bargaining session Sunday night, according to the New York State Nurses’ Association.
“These nurses are dedicated professionals who provide quality patient care under unimaginable conditions day in and day out that were exacerbated by the pandemic,” Mario Cilento, president of the New York State AFL-CIO, a labor union, said in a statement Monday. “Now they are faced with the added challenge of short staffing that has reached critical levels and could compromise their ability to provide the best quality care to their patients.”
“It is time for the hospitals to treat these nurses fairly, with the dignity and respect they deserve, and to negotiate in good faith, quickly, to ensure nurses can get back to serving their communities by providing superior care to their patients,” the statement continued.
Strikes are occurring at three locations in the Bronx and one location in Manhattan and will occur until 7 p.m.
In a statement, Montefiore Medical Center said it offered a 19.1% compounded wage increase and promised to create more than 170 new nursing positions ahead of the strike.
“We remain committed to seamless and compassionate care, recognizing that the union leadership’s decision will spark fear and uncertainty across our community,” the statement read.
Mount Sinai told ABC News in a statement it also offered a 19.1% increased wage proposal but that nurses rejected the offer.
“Our first priority is the safety of our patients. We’re prepared to minimize disruption, and we encourage Mount Sinai nurses to continue providing the world-class care they’re known for, in spite of NYSNA’s strike,” Mount Sinai officials said.
Mount Sinai said it was preparing for the strike by “diverting a majority of ambulances,” starting “to cancel some elective surgeries … perform emergency surgery only,” “starting to transfer patients” to other hospitals and medical centers, and “working to safely discharge as many patients as appropriate,” according to an internal memo obtained by New York ABC station WABC-TV.
Gov. Kathy Hochul called for binding arbitration Sunday night to avert a strike, but union officials did not accept the proposal.
“Gov. Hochul should listen to frontline Covid nurse heroes and respect our federally protected labor and collective bargaining rights,” NYSNA said in a statement. “Nurses don’t want to strike. Bosses have pushed us to strike by refusing to seriously consider our proposals to address the desperate crisis of unsafe staffing that harms our patients.”
The NYSNA also urged New Yorkers to not be fearful or concerned about seeking medical care due to the shrike.
“To all of our patients, to all New Yorkers, we want to be absolutely clear: If you are sick, please do not delay getting medical care, regardless of whether we are on strike,” the organization tweeted. “In fact, we invite you to come join us on the strike line after you’ve gotten the care you need.”
(NEW YORK) — For nearly a century, people have flocked every holiday season to Radio City Music Hall to watch the famous Rockettes perform in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular show. The latest show, however, is stirring up controversy among customers and privacy advocates. That controversy is over technology — specifically, facial recognition software.
When Kelly Conlon, a lawyer, tried to join her daughter’s Girl Scout troop at a Rockettes performance the weekend after Thanksgiving, the venue scanned her face and barred her entry.
Conlon reportedly appeared on an “attorney exclusion list” created by Radio City Music Hall’s parent company, MSG Entertainment, which bans employees at law firms engaged in litigation with the company, even if a given individual isn’t involved directly. In this case, Conlon wasn’t involved directly, but her firm was engaged in litigation against one of the company’s restaurants, the New York Times reported.
Roughly a month later, news of the incident went viral, inciting concern over the use of facial recognition by private corporations and rekindling a public debate over whether to limit the technology.
The incident at Radio City Music Hall was first reported by a New York affiliate of NBC.
Facial recognition software use by U.S. businesses has grown sharply in recent years, analysts and privacy advocates told ABC News.
The uses range from tech companies securing personal devices to retailers scanning for potential shoplifters to e-commerce giants tracking delivery drivers.
Companies contend that the technology helps them achieve a safe and efficient operation, benefiting consumers and employees alike; while critics say the powerful tool encroaches on the privacy of everyday people, risking undue punishment or discrimination, the experts said.
Meg Foster, a Justice Fellow at Georgetown University’s Center on Privacy and Technology, described the incident at Radio City Music Hall as “the tip of the iceberg.”
“Over the last few years there has been a quiet surge in the use of facial recognition by private companies,” Foster told ABC News. “We’ve seen a huge rise in this technology.”
Consumers are perhaps best acquainted with facial recognition software as means for unlocking their smartphones. Google added the face unlock feature to its Android operating system more than a decade ago, and Apple followed suit with its Face ID for iPhones starting in 2017.
The following year, Madison Square Garden added facial recognition to its security protocol, while thousands of retailers nationwide were poised to add the software for theft-prevention, BuzzFeed reported.
As uses of the technology have grown, so has the industry behind it. In 2020, the facial recognition industry was valued at $3.8 billion. By 2030, it is expected to reach $16.7 billion, according to data firm Allied Market Research.
“In the private sector, facial recognition is providing enormous benefits both to businesses and consumers, providing individuals an option to verify their identity securely and conveniently against an enrolled photo,” Jake Park, senior director of government relations at the Security Industry Association, a trade group for security providers, told ABC News.
The incident at Radio City Music Hall in November marked “a giant leap forward in what companies are doing with face recognition,” said Adam Schwartz, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who supports stronger regulation of the technology.
“The next step could be similar treatment for a customer who picketed in front of a store or a customer who gave a negative review on Yelp,” he added. “I go on the bad-guy list.”
In a separate incident at Madison Square Garden last month, an attorney was removed from a basketball game with the use of facial recognition software for the same reason as Conlon, the New York Post reported.
In a statement, a spokesperson for MSG Entertainment defended the company’s use of facial recognition software.
“Facial recognition technology is a useful tool widely used throughout the country, including the sports and entertainment industry, retail locations, casinos and airports to protect the safety of the people that visit and work at those locations,” the spokesperson said.
“Our venues are worldwide destinations and several sit on major transit hubs in the heart of New York,” the spokesperson added. “We have always made it clear to our guests and to the public that we use facial recognition as one of our tools to provide a safe and secure environment for our customers and ourselves.”
The incident at Radio City Music Hall exemplifies facial recognition software’s capacity to enable corporate policy that prohibits entry to people who do not pose a security threat to the public, said Foster, of the Center on Privacy and Technology.
“This surveillance can be used punitively against anyone that a company determines is an enemy, whether that’s a lawyer involved in litigation against a company or an employee who quit,” she said.
Critics of facial recognition software in the private sector also fear two other abuses of the technology: discrimination and privacy violation, Foster added.
A federal study released in 2019 found that facial recognition systems misidentified people of color more often than white people. The American Civil Liberties Union, an advocacy group, has called the technology “racist.”
Meanwhile, privacy concerns center on the collection of intimate personal data that cannot be altered after a potential data leak, Foster said.
“Your face can’t be changed if a database holding photos is hacked or sold to somebody with poor security infrastructure, and your face is out there,” she said.
The Security Industry Association touts the benefits of facial recognition but says companies deploying the technology must avoid illegal or discriminatory applications.
“Facial recognition technology makes our country safer and brings value to our everyday lives when used effectively and responsibly,” the group said on its website. “SIA believes all technology products, including biometric technologies, must only be used for purposes that are lawful, ethical and nondiscriminatory.”
As facial recognition technology has become more commonplace, regulation has remained limited, analysts and advocates told ABC News.
Laws governing the collection of personal data, such as facial recognition, primarily operate at the state level, David J. Oberly, a Cincinnati-based attorney at Squire Patton Boggs LLP, who focuses on data and cybersecurity.
So far, three states have enacted laws pertaining to data collected with facial recognition software: Texas, Washington and Illinois, Oberly said. The strongest law, in Illinois, requires that companies obtain written consent from individuals before collecting such data, and afterward firms are prohibited from selling or profiting off of the information.
At a Chicago theater owned by MSG Entertainment, for instance, the company cannot collect data in the manner it does at the Radio City Music Hall, since it does not obtain written consent. There is no such law in New York City or New York state that requires written consent.
In 2019, Sen. Brian Schatz, Democrat-Hi., and Roy Blunt, Republican-Mo., proposed a bipartisan bill similar to the Illinois law, but the measure did not reach the floor for a vote.
Despite some agreement across the aisle, the incoming Congress is unlikely to pass a bill on the issue, Oberly said. “There’s some consensus there, but I think the new Congress makes it much less likely that there will be an agreement on a federal privacy bill,” he said.
Meanwhile, the public’s interest in the issue will likely grow as the technology becomes more prevalent and directly affects more people, Foster said. The incident at Radio City Music Hall shows that anyone can be targeted by the technology, she added.
“It’s not just folks investigated for crimes who are at risk,” she said. “It really is anyone and everyone.”
(NEW YORK) — The holiday meltdown at Southwest Airlines last month cost the company as much as $825 million in lost revenue and added expenses, the company said in a government filing on Friday.
Southwest Airlines, the largest domestic airline in the U.S., canceled more than 16,000 flights over an 11-day period at the end of December, the filing said.
The disarray amid a massive snowstorm stranded droves of customers during a peak travel season, prompting the company to apologize and offer reimbursement for inconvenienced travelers.
“The cost is definitely a significant amount,” Ross Feinstein, industry veteran and former director of operations communications at American Airlines, told ABC News.
“I’m not surprised that this is the hit they will ultimately take, in terms of the sheer number of passengers affected and the number of flights canceled,” added Feinstein.
Roughly half of the cost stemmed from lost sales, the company said.
The remaining cost went to reimbursements for affected passengers, as well as frequent-flier points offered as a “gesture of goodwill” and extra compensation for workers, the company said.
Southwest Airlines this week announced that it would provide each affected passenger with 25,000 frequent flier points, which the company equated to about a $300 value.
If an airline cancels a flight, meanwhile, a customer is entitled to a full refund by law, according to the Department of Transportation.
In addition, Southwest Airlines vowed to “honor reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation,” the company said.
Last week, in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America, Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan apologized for the debacle.
“There’s just no way almost to apologize enough because we love our customers, we love our people and really impacted their plans,” Jordan said. “There will be a lot of lessons learned that come out of this.”
In October, Southwest Airlines predicted strong financial performance over the final three months of 2022, estimating an increase in operating revenue of as much as 17% compared with the same period in 2019.
The holiday meltdown appears to have scuttled those aspirations. Compared with the same period two years prior, the company now estimates a 6% decline in carrying capacity, which measures the total number of passengers transported over a combined number of miles, the filing said.
Despite the news of the company’s financial blow, the price of Southwest Airlines shares inched upward in early trading on Friday.
Since the beginning of the debacle, on Dec. 21, Southwest Airlines stock has fallen about 6%.
All in all, the company will likely overcome the blow to its reputation, said Feinstein.
“If Southwest fixes this issue so that it doesn’t happen again, future passengers will forget and move on,” he said. “When they’re buying a flight, passengers typically book on price and schedule.”
The historic scale of cancellations at Southwest sprang from the company’s uniquely complex flight coordination model and its antiquated internal scheduling systems, flight experts, Southwest Airlines officials and union leaders previously told ABC News.
The announced cost of the meltdown does not include potential remedies for such issues, Feinstein said. The company will likely take on the added cost of updating its internal programming system to avoid another possible wave of cancellations, he added.
“There will be additional money spent and programmed for IT infrastructure,” he said. “That’s important before any other project – to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
(NEW YORK) — Peloton has agreed to pay a $19 million fine as part of a settlement over its treadmill recall, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday.
The fitness company recalled its Tread+ and Tread treadmills in May 2021 following reports of more than a dozen injuries and the death of a child.
The settlement with the federal regulatory agency resolves the charge that “Peloton knowingly failed to immediately report to CPSC, as required by law, that its Tread+ treadmill contained a defect that could create a substantial product hazard and created an unreasonable risk of serious injury to consumers,” CPSC said in a statement.
CPSC said Peloton started receiving reports of incidents and injuries with the treadmills, including entrapment in the rear, as early as December 2018 though did not immediately report to the commission.
By the time the company did file a report with CPSC, there were more than 150 reports of people, pets and objects being pulled under the rear of the Tread+ treadmill, as well as 13 injuries ranging from broken bones to friction burns, according to CPSC. A 6-year-old child also died on March 3, 2021, after being pulled under the rear of the Tread+ treadmill, CPSC said.
The penalty also settles the charge that Peloton “knowingly distributed” 38 recalled Tread+ treadmills through Peloton personnel and third-party delivery firms from May to August of 2021, in violation of the Consumer Product Safety Act, CPSC said.
CPSC accepted the $19,065,000 settlement agreement by a 4-0 vote late last month, subject to public comment, marking one of the largest civil penalties in its history, commissioners said.
“By acting with one voice, the CPSC sends a loud and clear warning to companies who continue to sell dangerous products that they know can cause serious injury or death,” Commission Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric said in a statement. “By failing to report these incidents to the Commission immediately, Peloton not only violated the Consumer Product Safety Act, but also consumers’ trust.”
Peloton said it was “pleased” to have reached the settlement agreement.
“Peloton remains deeply committed to the safety and well-being of our Members and to the continuous improvement of our products,” the company said in a statement, adding that it looks forward to “working cooperatively with the CPSC to further enhance Member safety.”
Peloton is currently pursuing the commission’s approval of a Tread+ rear guard that would “further augment its safety features,” the company said.
As part of the settlement agreement, Peloton must also maintain an “enhanced compliance program” regarding the Consumer Product Safety Act and filed annual reports regarding this program for five years, CPSC said.
(NEW YORK) — The former chief executive of the cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network defrauded hundreds of thousands of investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency, New York Attorney General Letitia James alleged in a new lawsuit filed Thursday.
Alex Mashinsky lied to investors, concealed Celsius’ dire financial condition and failed to register as required by state law, the lawsuit said.
As Celsius lost some $440 million in risky investments, Mashinsky concealed the platform’s rapidly deteriorating financial condition, according to the lawsuit, which seeks to ban him from doing business in New York and requires him to pay damages, restitution and disgorgement.
“As the former CEO of Celsius, Alex Mashinsky promised to lead investors to financial freedom but led them down a path of financial ruin,” James said in a statement accompanying an announcement of the lawsuit.
Celsius is a cryptocurrency lending platform where investors could deposit their cryptocurrency in return for receiving yield on their deposited assets. Throughout Mashinsky’s tenure as CEO he made numerous false and deceptive statements about Celsius’ safety, number of users, and investment strategies to recruit investors, the lawsuit said.
In hundreds of public appearances, videos, interviews, blog posts and livestreams, Mashinsky asserted that Celsius was safer than a bank, though the attorney general’s office noted banks are highly regulated by state and federal agencies and subject to regular and robust examinations. Celsius was not and its customers had no hope of receiving the same protections as banks.
According to the lawsuit, Mashinsky repeatedly claimed that Celsius made safe, low-risk investments and only lent assets to credible and reputable entities. However, investors’ assets were routinely exposed to high-risk counterparties and strategies, many of which resulted in losses which Mashinsky concealed from investors.
The collapse of Celsius has left many individuals in financial ruin. The lawsuit mentioned a New York resident who mortgaged two properties to invest with Celsius. A disabled veteran lost his investment of $36,000, which had taken him nearly a decade to save up. Another disabled citizen, who depended upon government assistance to supplement his $8 per hour income, lost his entire investment.
(NEW YORK) — Hundreds of Uber drivers in New York City are carrying out a day-long strike on Thursday after a lawsuit from the rideshare company temporarily blocked a pay increase set to take effect last month.
Striking drivers were set to hold a rally at the Manhattan headquarters of Uber, demanding the company drop its legal challenge and allow the pay increase to go forward.
A new rule from the Taxi and Limousine Commission, a city agency, would significantly raise minimum compensation for rideshare drivers, hiking pay by more than 7% per minute and 23% per mile.
The pay bump will yield a typical rideshare driver an additional $1,000 each month, said the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, or NYTWA, a labor group that organized the strike.
Samassa Tidiane, who has driven for Uber since 2014, said he is participating in the strike on Thursday because the need for a pay increase has become especially urgent amid near-historic inflation.
“This week, I was in the supermarket and a packet of a dozen eggs cost $8.49. Before, it was less than $2,” he told ABC News. “If our pay doesn’t go up, how are we supposed to survive?”
Tidiane said he typically works 12 or 13 hours each day, taking home up to $1,000 per week. But expenses like gas and car repair cut significantly into the earnings. He said Uber doesn’t cover such costs.
“Uber doesn’t give us one penny,” Tidiane said. “They treat us like garbage.”
The pay increase was set to take hold last month but a Manhattan judge suspended implementation days before, after a legal bid from Uber.
In its lawsuit, Uber objected to the new rule as “arbitrary and capricious,” saying it departs from the city agency’s previous decisions and relies on a faulty methodology.
In a statement, Uber said it expected few drivers to participate in the protest on Thursday.
“Every time the taxi association calls for a strike, drivers demonstrate they’re more interested in delivering for New Yorkers than social media discourse,” the company said. “We expect this time will be no different.”
The action from Uber drivers marks the second single-day strike carried out in protest of the delayed implementation of the city’s pay raise.
The first strike, on Dec. 19, prompted thousands of rideshare drivers to log off, forcing companies to institute surge pricing, NYTWA said.
Uber downplayed the effect of the first strike, saying that on that day the company recorded 8% more trips and 7% more drivers than an average Monday over the last three months of the previous year.
The next court date in the case over the pay increase is set for Jan. 31.
If the pay raise remains stalled in court, drivers may take part in a future strike lasting as long as two weeks, Tidiane said.
“If they do nothing today, we’re going to prepare a next step,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — Shares of Tesla plummeted 12% on Tuesday, wiping nearly $50 billion from the company’s value and eliciting scrutiny of CEO Elon Musk as he appears to focus on Twitter.
The losses exacerbated a skid that goes back months. Since Musk acquired Twitter in late October, Tesla stock has fallen by half. Since last January, when Musk began investing in Twitter, the company has lost nearly three-quarters of its value.
In early trading on Wednesday, Tesla stock jumped about 3%, recovering some of the losses.
The precipitous drop this week followed a disappointing sales report for the last three months of 2022, which fell short of Wall Street expectations. Tesla delivered 405,000 vehicles from October through December; analysts anticipated 420,000 deliveries.
In all, Tesla sold a total of 1.3 million cars last year, which marked a 40% increase from the year prior. The figure fell short of Tesla’s stated goal of 50% annual sales growth.
The latest blow deepened some concerns that already hung over the automaker. Tesla faces falling demand amid recession fears and interest rate hikes, heightened competition and pandemic-induced production challenges.
Further, some analysts and major investors have sharply criticized Musk over a perceived lack of focus on Tesla, saying the company needs leadership as it contends with an adverse business environment.
“We all know Tesla management needs to be 100% focused at the moment,” Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management, tweeted on Tuesday.
Gary Black, the managing director of investment firm the Future Fund, said on Monday in response to the company’s latest report on sales: “No way to sugar coat this.”
Tesla and Elon Musk did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Previously, Musk has attributed the falling stock price to rising interest rates, which typically benefits savers who stand to gain from an uptick in the interest yielded by accounts held at banks.
“As bank savings account interest rates, which are guaranteed, start to approach stock market returns, which are not guaranteed, people will increasingly move their money out of stocks into cash, thus causing stocks to drop,” Musk said last month in response to concern from a prominent Tesla investor.
Musk said late last month that he will resign as head of Twitter when the company identifies a successor.
The world’s richest person has sold nearly $40 billion worth of Tesla stock since late last year, including a $3.6 billion sale as recently as last week.
The sales have reduced the stake Musk holds in Tesla, raising questions about his continued level of involvement with the company.
Since he acquired Twitter, Musk has made dramatic changes. He fired top executives and cut the company’s 7,500-person workforce in half, while reinstating some formerly suspended accounts.
For his part, Musk has defended his actions at Twitter as part of an aggressive effort to rescue the company from financial peril, which he described in a Twitter Spaces interview in December as an “emergency fire drill.”
“That’s the reason for my actions,” he added. “They may seem sometimes spurious or odd or whatever.”
In an interview last month, Musk vowed to stop selling Tesla stock until at least 2024, though he has previously violated commitments to halt sales of the stock. He insisted that he hasn’t missed “a single important Tesla meeting” since acquiring Twitter.
Tesla remains the top seller of EVs in the U.S. but its lead has slipped in recent months as competitors offer a host of affordable alternatives, a S&P Global Mobility report showed in November.
The company held a 65% market share of newly registered electric vehicles in the U.S. through the third quarter 2022, a drop from 71% in 2021 and 79% in 2020, the report found.
Responding to weakened demand, Tesla announced in December that it would offer $7,500 discounts on Model 3 and Model Y vehicles delivered in the U.S. that month.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Musk appeared to acknowledge how his fortunes had changed: “12 months ago, I was Person of the Year,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — Eating with the seasons is a great way to consume produce at peak freshness when it’s full of both nutrients and flavor. Plus, it supports local and regional growers.
Winter dishes and cozy recipes call for things like braised beans, stews full of carrots, onions and potatoes or even roasted squash, which are all at their peak this time of year.
From January through March, here’s a snapshot of what’s in season this winter:
(Make sure to check your local farmer’s markets or seasonal growing calendar because produce availability can differ by location based on harvest and yield.)
