Yesterday’s post looked at the merging, downsizing, and shrinking research budgets of corporate America.
But today, there is Elon Musk. Last night, Musk’s SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket that successfully deployed 11 suborbital satellites while its first stage returned to earth and landed upright. Successfully landing and reusing the suborbital stage is a key step in SpaceX’s plan to create low-cost space flight. In four previous attempts, the rockets had crashed on impact.
SpaceX’s competitor, Blue Origin, which is backed by Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos, already landed a suborbital rocket in Texas last month, but Musk tried to minimize that accomplishment by saying the rocket was smaller than the Falcon 9. Last night, Bezos tweeted to Musk: “Congrats @SpaceX on landing suborbital booster stage. Welcome to the club!”
Also yesterday, Fortune published an interview with Musk in which he claimed his car company, Tesla, will be producing a complete self-driving car within two years – far faster than others, such as Google, are promising. “It’s a much easier problem than people think it is,” Musk told us.
And did we mention Musk wants to colonize Mars, revolutionize intercity transportation, and create “responsible” artificial intelligence, so robots don’t destroy the world?
Dow & DuPont may be lowering their ambitions, but Elon Musk is just getting warmed up.
On a less cosmic note, ever wonder how CEOs would run the North Pole? Watch Fortune’s fun holiday greeting here.
More news below.
| Alan Murray | |
| @alansmurray | |
| alan.murray@fortune.com |
Top News
• Déjà vu for Staples-Office Depot
A revised $5.5 billion bid by Staples to buy rival Office Depot was rejected by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, again thwarting an attempt by the firms to create a larger entity to compete better with the major changes reshaping the office supplies market. Staples says it is willing to continue negotiations to get the agency's approval, but is also weighing progress "through litigation." There had been indications the FTC would block the deal, amid worries that a Staples-Office Depot merger (after Office Depot already bought OfficeMax) would curb competition for supplies sold to large business customers. Fortune
• E. coli outbreak hits Chipotle again
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is looking into a new, more recent outbreak of a different strain of E. Coli linked to the fast-casual burrito chain. Chipotle is still grappling with the sales and public relations fallout from an earlier outbreak of the bacteria in the autumn that affected restaurants in nine states. To help mitigate worries, the company took out full-page ads in several major newspapers and also got founder and CEO Steve Ells to publicly apologize. Shares and sales have plummeted under the impact of a disaster that has dragged out for months now. Fortune
• KaloBios fires Martin Shkreli
Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli was terminated as CEO for KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, a month after he assumed the role and only days after he resigned from the top role at Turing. The move represents continued fallout following Shkreli's arrest on suspicion of securities fraud in a case involving another firm. Prosecutors have alleged the executive had run a Ponzi-like scheme. KaloBios has not said who would replace Shkreli as CEO. Fortune
• Libor jail sentence cut to 11 years
A former UBS and Citigroup trader had his jail sentence for rigging Libor cut to 11 years after judges said his punishment was too harsh. The 14-year sentence against Tom Hayes was reduced, though the court upheld a conviction for conspiracy to defraud. Hayes was the first individual to face trial for rigging the London interbank offered rate since a probe started seven years ago. He has been the face of a scandal that has led to fines of over $9 billion for a handful of banks and brokerages. Bloomberg
• Car dealership M&A heats up
The Wall Street Journal reports a total of 456 dealerships have been acquired so far in 2015, a 40% increase over the prior year and a gain that comes as industry analysts expect U.S. vehicle sales to reach 17.5 million this year. More growth is expected in 2016. “Warren Buffett and others have come to see dealerships as stable, slow, predictable growth,” said Cliff Banks, founder of car retailing M&A tracker The Banks Report. While M&A action is accelerating, auto manufacturers are also ordering dealers to make hefty investments. Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Around the Water Cooler
• PayPal touts One Touch payments
PayPal has touted the success of the company's new One Touch service – a way to set up a universal "mobile and web payments" wallet that can help consumers proceed with a one-click confirmation of a purchase via an e-commerce site or an app. PayPal claims that more than 10 million consumers have enabled One Touch in over six months, with more than 1 million merchants around the world allowing people to pay with One Touch. Fortune
• Jet.com's X-Mas is too merry
Jet.com, debuting for the e-commerce startup's first holiday sales season, alerted customers it could "no longer confidently guarantee delivery" by Dec. 25 on items that aren't eligible for two-day shipping. Jet.com, with more than two million members, fulfills some orders from its own warehouses but others come from retail partners. The goods that are from the partners may be delayed beyond the two-to-five-day shipping window, Jet.com said. USA Today
