🔌🚗💡 Tesla Is In Trouble, But Is Elon Musk The Right Answer?

In today’s newsletter I discuss if Elon Musk is the right person to fix Tesla, saying "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT is costing it a fortune, Chipotle is expanding into Mexico, Rob Lowe dressed up as the Easter Bunny, sherpa drone pilots on Mount Everest are a thing, and NFT are making a comeback….again….maybe.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

🔌🚗💡 Tesla Is In Trouble, But Is Elon Musk The Right Answer?

Tesla's 2025 first-quarter earnings painted a picture full of vibrant reds and dropping profits. The continuing effects and uncertainty of the Trump administration's trade wars has created economic uncertainty. Add to that Elon Musk's extensive involvement in the government’s DOGE initiative has raised questions about his focus on Tesla. This resulted in a noticeable decline in Tesla's brand perception worldwide, which has led to a big drop in revenue, which fell 20% in Q1, and the company’s profitability dropped like a lead weight 71% compared to a year earlier.

On top of a drop in sales and profitability, Tesla is attempting to navigate a shifting landscape. The company is reportedly working on a refresh of its vehicle lineup, with refreshed Model Ys expected to launch by the end of the first half of 2025. Tesla continues to push forward with its most ambitious projects, including the development of its robotaxi service and the Optimus humanoid robots. Both projects have been impacted by export restrictions on rare earth minerals from China, as well as tariffs. It’s ironic, considering Elon Musk’s involvement in the Trump administration, it's the tariffs that may affect Tesla the most going forward.

Now there’s news that Elon Musk may be reducing his governmental work dramatically by the end of the month.

While Tesla's earnings were a disappointment, and long term holders of Tesla’s stock (full disclosure: I’ve been a shareholder in my IRA since 2019) have been avoiding looking at their IRAs and 401Ks, short sellers have been capitalizing on the company's volatility. The significant drop in Tesla's stock value has made short sellers a massive $11.5 billion dollars in profits in just the first 4 months of 2025. 

There’s no putting lipstick on the pig that was Tesla's first-quarter results, but the company's future hinges on Elon Musk's ability to refocus his efforts on Tesla and their roll out of a refreshed vehicle lineup, introduction of robotaxis, and the introduction of their Optimus humanoid robots in order to revitalize Tesla's standing.

In Elon Musk we trust, or do the short sells have it right this time?

💰 Business

Apparently when those of us with good manners say "please" and "thank you" to ChatGPT we aren’t just being polite, we’re actually costing OpenAI a small fortune and contributing to their servers melting down.

Obviously a computer doesn’t care about good manners, and will still answer a person’s questions regardless if they say “please”, but in terms of real world ramifications it’s costing OpenAI "tens of millions of dollars" in electricity bills when we write those platitudes.

I’m not stressing it too much. OpenAI has raised a staggering $57.9 billion dollars across 11 funding rounds, including their latest Series F round where they raised $40 billion dollars in March 2025. The company now sports a valuation of $300 billion dollars.

And they may need that money to keep their 1st place in the global AI market, which was estimated to be around $638.23 billion dollars in 2024, and is expected to reach $3.68 trillion dollars by 2034.

Thanks ChatGPT!

🐰 Entertainment

Over the Easter holiday weekend, Rob Lowe of all people, decided to dress up in an Easter Bunny costume to entertain Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger's children. You can’t even make this up.

Why would they even be hanging out on a holiday?

Well, both Rob Lowe and Chris Pratt starred in NBC’s hit sitcom Parks and Recreation, which aired from 2009-2015. Not only is the video hysterical, but it’s also funny to think that Rob Lowe, who has a net worth of approximately $100 million dollars, doesn’t take himself too seriously and can still take the time to make his friend’s kids laugh.

 Check out the reel:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIsdAXCRsgL/

🌯 Food

One of America’s favorite Tex-Mex fast-casual chains, Chipotle, is expanding into Mexico, but will Mexicans go for the Americanized menu items during a time of heightened trade tensions and not very neighborly tariffs between the U.S. and Mexico?

On the face of it most you’d think a Tex-Mex type of burrito chain like Chipotle would never be able to compete with authentic Mexican eateries, but don't ever discount the allure of an American brand. It's not always necessarily about the taste - it's more about the experience and the perception of buying or going to a big brand company's restaurant.

Take McDonalds for example. You think people in China love the taste of Big Mac more than their native Peking Duck? Nope! It's all about the status symbol of eating at an American restaurant, so much so that China is actually McDonald's second-largest market by store count, with over 6,800 locations. McDonald's has been doubling down on China, with a goal of 10,000+ restaurants by 2028.

I'm actually not a big fan of Chipotle; their flavor palette just isn't my jam - but everyone I know raves about them. I think they're going to do pretty good in Mexico. I mean, who wouldn't want an overpriced burrito with a side of good ol' American branding?

🚁 Tech

Picture this. You’ve trained and saved up to climb one of the highest and hardest mountains in the world - Mount Everest. There you are, about to summit its peak, and you stop to take in the sights and contemplate your achievement, when you hear the whining sound of a drone.

No, you’re not suffering hallucinations from a lack of oxygen.

It’s a one of DJI’s FlyCart 30 drones, which cost north of $70,000 dollars and can carry up to 44 pounds. Now digital sherpas are piloting drones up Mount Everest ferrying everything from oxygen canisters, food, and even 15 foot ladders used to traverse carcasses. What used to take sherpas 6-7 hours to carry supplies up to the next camp, a drone can now do it in 6-7 minutes.

I don’t mean to drone on-and-on about the benefits of using drones in new and innovative ways, but if a sherpa drone pilot can fly an oxygen canister up to a higher camp in order to save an injured climber’s life then this is one the best use case for using modern technology in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth.

🪙 NFTs

NFT are making a comeback….again….maybe. Futureverse, the metaverse technology company, has acquired NFT startup Candy Digital who’s known for their digital collectible NFTs from major partners like MLB, Netflix, and DC Comics. Prior to the acquisition Candy Digital had been valued at $1.5 billion dollars after raising a $100 million dollar funding round back in October 2021 plus another $44.45 million dollars in March 2023.

Futureverse was most recently valued at approximately $1 billion dollars after a $54 million dollar Series A funding round in 2023. The acquisition will add Candy Digital's 1.5 million users to the Futureverse platform.

So for the record, NFTs are coming back in popularity, right?

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irl Media NEWSLETTER is written, edited, and published by Chris Thompson.