• Tesla annual sales declined for the first time in over a decade.
• The US EV giant sold 1.79 million cars in 2024, a 1% drop from the 1.81 million sold in 2023.
• Tesla is still the world's largest EV maker but Chinese rivals like BYD are closing in on it.

Chinese auto companies like BYD are giving Tesla a run for its money this week.

On Thursday, Tesla announced that it had delivered 1.79 million vehicles last year, a 1% drop from the 1.81 million vehicles it delivered in 2023. This is the first time Tesla's annual sales have declined in over a decade.

Tesla shares fell by as much as 8% on the same day, trading as low as $373.40 before paring losses.

Tesla's Chinese rivals, on the other hand, saw a rise in sales at the end of 2024.

BYD said on Wednesday that it had sold 1.76 million battery electric cars in 2024, a 12% increase from the 1.57 million cars it sold in 2023.

Smaller EV makers like Nio and Xpeng saw similar improvements in their sales figures as well.

Nio said in a statement on Wednesday that it had delivered 221,970 vehicles in 2024, a 38.7% increase from the 160,038 cars it delivered in 2023.

Xpeng delivered 190,068 vehicles last year, a 34% increase from the 141,601 vehicles delivered in 2023, per a filing made on Wednesday.

To be sure, Tesla is still the world's largest EV maker. The company played a pioneering role in popularizing EVs when it first burst into the scene with the Roadster in 2008.

But the Elon Musk-led EV giant had to engage in a price war in the past year to fend off its rivals.

Besides slashing prices for its vehicles in China, Tesla also doled out incentives like three months of free Supercharging and its Full Self Driving (Supervised) beta software to entice US customers.

Back in January 2024, Musk told investors in an earnings call that Chinese automakers are the "most competitive car companies in the world."

"If there are no trade barriers established, they will pretty much demolish most other car companies in the world," Musk said.

Tesla, BYD, Nio, and Xpeng did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• A Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel at Las Vegas on Wednesday.
• Las Vegas police thanked Elon Musk for his assistance in investigating the blast.
• Musk gave the police further information on the blast and footage from Tesla's charging stations.

Las Vegas police expressed their appreciation for Tesla CEO Elon Musk's assistance after a Cybertruck exploded outside the Trump International Hotel on New Year's Day.

"I have to thank Elon Musk specifically," Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at a press conference on Wednesday.

"He gave us quite a bit of additional information in regards to how the vehicle was locked after it exploded due to the nature of the force from the explosion as well as being able to capture all of the video from Tesla charging stations across the country, he sent that directly to us so I appreciate his help on that," the sheriff added.

The explosion, which took place at 8:40 a.m. Las Vegas time, left one dead and seven injured. The driver, who was killed in the explosion, has not been named.

McMahill told reporters that the Cybertruck's cargo bed contained gasoline canisters, fuel canisters, and "larger mortar fireworks." The FBI is trying to determine whether the blast was an act of terrorism.

"The evil knuckleheads picked the wrong vehicle for a terrorist attack. Cybertruck actually contained the explosion and directed the blast upwards," Musk wrote in an X post on the same day, echoing McMahill's remarks at the press conference.

"The fact that this was a Cybertruck really limited the damage that occurred inside of the valet because it had most of the blast go up through the truck and out," McMahill said at the press conference.

"In fact, if you look on that video you'll see that the front glass doors of the Trump hotel were not even broken by that blast which they were parked directly in front of," he added.

A video of the blown-up Cybertruck was also shown during the briefing. The vehicle's cargo bed was torched by the explosion, but its hull appeared to be otherwise intact, per the footage.

Tesla did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The blast happened just hours after a driver plowed into a crowd of people in New Orleans with a rented Ford pickup truck.

At least 15 people were killed during the New Orleans attack. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that authorities are investigating if the two incidents are linked.

"The whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now," Musk wrote on X following the explosion in Las Vegas.

Musk wrote in a subsequent X post that "the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself."

"All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion," he added.

The Cybertruck was first announced by Tesla in November 2019, but design changes saw the its release get delayed from 2021 to 2023.

When Musk first unveiled the Cybertruck in 2019, he said that the vehicle will be made from the same stainless-steel alloy used in SpaceX's Starship rocket.

The Cybertruck's skin "is literally bulletproof to a 9-mm handgun," Musk said.

"So, you know, when you say something's built tough, that's what we mean," he added.

• Justin Baldoni sued The New York Times over its story on Blake Lively's sexual-harassment claims.
• The Times stood by its reporting and said it would defend against the lawsuit.
• Lively also filed a lawsuit accusing Baldoni of retaliation for her harassment claims.

Justin Baldoni is taking legal action against The New York Times after the paper reported about his costar Blake Lively's allegations of misconduct against him.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Los Angeles Superior Court, named Baldoni, his publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel, and the "It Ends With Us" producers Jamey Heath and Steve Sarowitz as plaintiffs.

The lawsuit, obtained by Business Insider, accused the Times of relying "almost entirely" on what it described as "Lively's unverified and self-serving narrative" and said the newspaper disregarded "an abundance of evidence that contradicted her claims and exposed her true motives."

The lawsuit, embedded in full below, included screenshots of messages that it said contradicted the Times' reporting.

The lawsuit said the plaintiffs suffered damages that amounted to at least $250 million.

In a statement provided to BI, a Times spokesperson said the outlet stood by the reporting and would "vigorously defend against the lawsuit."

"Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported. It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article," the statement said.

The spokesperson also said the paper published Baldoni's full response statement to its story and said he and other subjects "have not pointed to a single error" in its reporting.

Lawyers for Lively said in a statement provided to BI: "Nothing in this lawsuit changes anything about the claims advanced in Ms. Lively's California Civil Rights Department Complaint, nor her federal complaint, filed earlier today."

The federal suit, also reviewed by Business Insider, named Baldoni and members of his PR team. It was based on the California civil-rights complaint and accused Baldoni and others of orchestrating a campaign to retaliate against her for speaking up about what she said was sexual misconduct.

The lawyers also said they encourage everyone to read Lively's full lawsuit, which is embedded below.

Representatives for Baldoni did not address Lively's lawsuit directly when reached by BI.

Bryan Freedman, a lawyer for Baldoni and the other plaintiffs suing the Times, told BI in a statement that Lively and her team had orchestrated a "vicious smear campaign" against his clients and that the Times had "cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful 'untouchable' Hollywood elites."

The Times' bombshell story, "'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine," was published December 21 and detailed messages exchanged between Baldoni and his PR team.

Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni at about the same time, where she accused him of sexual harassment and of coordinating a smear campaign to tarnish her reputation.

Baldoni's lawyers argued in their complaint Tuesday that the Times' story was based on "a premise that is categorically false and easily disproven," saying the Times had access to messages proving that Lively and not Baldoni was at fault.

Read Baldoni's lawsuit against the Times:

Read Lively's lawsuit against Baldoni and others:

• Chief Justice John Roberts flagged threats to the judicial system in his year-end review.
• Disgruntled lawmakers and litigants pose a threat to judicial independence, Roberts wrote.
• Roberts didn't name anyone specifically when he admonished public officials for intimidating judges.

False accusations and charged rhetoric against judges pose a threat to judicial independence, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his year-end review for 2024.

The report, published on Tuesday, delved into the dangers posed by disgruntled politicians and litigants against judges and the wider judicial system.

Roberts said in his report that some judicial decisions are "egregiously wrong" and do merit pushback, but that "not all actors engage in 'informed criticism.'"

"I feel compelled to address four areas of illegitimate activity that, in my view, do threaten the independence of judges on which the rule of law depends: (1) violence, (2) intimidation, (3) disinformation, and (4) threats to defy lawfully entered judgments," Roberts wrote.

The report came not long before President-elect Donald Trump is due to be inaugurated on January 20.

Roberts did not mention Trump in the report, though it did cite instances of litigants airing their criticisms of judges.

"Today, in the computer era, intimidation can take different forms," Roberts wrote. "Disappointed litigants rage at judicial decisions on the Internet, urging readers to send a message to the judge."

"They falsely claim that the judge had it in for them because of the judge's race, gender, or ethnicity—or the political party of the President who appointed the judge," the chief justice added.

Trump has notably clashed with judges presiding over cases against him.

He was repeatedly fined for violating his gag order during his New York hush-money trial.

The former president was held in contempt of court after criticizing his presiding judge, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan during an interview with "Real America's Voice" in April.

"But this judge, uh, said that I can't get away from the trial. You know he's rushing the trial like crazy. Nobody's ever seen a thing go like this. The jury was picked so fast — 95% Democrats," Trump said in a phone interview with the network.

Trump also clashed repeatedly with Lewis Kaplan, the judge in a defamation suit brought against him by E. Jean Carroll.

In his report, Roberts admonished public officials for attempting to intimidate judges, though he stopped short of naming them.

"Public officials certainly have a right to criticize the work of the judiciary, but they should be mindful that intemperance in their statements when it comes to judges may prompt dangerous reactions by others," Roberts wrote.

The chief justice also admonished lawmakers for trying to defy the Supreme Court's decisions.

"Elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings," the chief justice wrote.

In April 2023, congressional Democrats urged the White House to ignore a federal judge's decision to block the sale of the abortion pill mifepristone. The Biden administration rejected the suggestion. The Supreme Court later upheld access to the drug in a ruling issued in June.

The Supreme Court did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Geoffrey Hinton doesn't support OpenAI's plan to become a for-profit company.
• Hinton said OpenAI has "received numerous tax and other benefits from its non-profit status."
• Hinton voiced his support for the injunction Elon Musk filed against OpenAI's transition.

Elon Musk has a new supporter in his legal fight against OpenAI: AI "godfather" Geoffrey Hinton.

"OpenAI was founded as an explicitly safety-focused non-profit and made a variety of safety related promises in its charter," Hinton said in a statement issued by Encode, a youth-led advocacy organization for human-centered AI, on Monday.

"It received numerous tax and other benefits from its non-profit status. Allowing it to tear all of that up when it becomes inconvenient sends a very bad message to other actors in the ecosystem," he added.

Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in physics in October. He's known as the godfather of AI for his work in neural networks and he spent more than a decade at Google before quitting in May 2023.

OpenAI was launched as a nonprofit research organization in 2015. Hinton's comments come as OpenAI takes steps towards becoming a for-profit company.

Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Sam Altman and others but left its board in 2018, is trying to block that move. Last month, his lawyers filed an injunction against OpenAI to stop its transition to a for-profit entity. When asked about the filing, a spokesperson for OpenAI told BI Musk's latest filing "continues to be utterly without merit."

Encode filed an amicus brief in support of Musk's efforts on December 27.

"From the start, OpenAI's mission was to keep its technology under the control of a nonprofit accountable to the public," Adam Billen, Encode's vice president of public policy, said in a statement to Business Insider on Tuesday morning.

"Its decision to abandon that mission in favor of profit underscores why public involvement is essential in shaping the future of this transformative technology," Billen continued.

Musk's legal battle against OpenAI

In February, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, accusing the ChatGPT-maker of violating its nonprofit mission by partnering with Microsoft.

Musk withdrew the lawsuit in June, only to refile it in August.

Musk's lawyers are arguing that OpenAI's executives "deceived" Musk into co-founding the company by playing on his concerns about AI's existential risks.

This isn't the first time Hinton has criticized OpenAI.

At a press conference in October, Hinton said Altman is "much less concerned with safety than with profits," and described the situation as "unfortunate."

OpenAI closed a $6.6 billion funding round in October, valuing it at $157 billion.

OpenAI, Hinton, and Musk did not respond to Business Insider's requests for comment.

• Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement after eight years.
• Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, two years after the pair got married.
• Her representative said in a statement to BI that she was exhausted but relieved it was over.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement.

"More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr. Pitt. She and the children left all of the properties they had shared with Mr. Pitt, and since that time she has focused on finding peace and healing for their family," Jolie's lawyer, James Simon, told Business Insider on Tuesday.

"This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago," Simon said, adding that Jolie was "exhausted" but "relieved this one part is over."

Jolie and Pitt signed off on the settlement on Monday, Simon told People.

Pitt's representative declined to comment when contacted by BI.

Jolie, 49, and Pitt, 61, became an item after working together on the 2005 film "Mr and Mrs Smith." At the time, Jolie was in the process of divorcing actor and director Billy Bob Thornton, while Pitt was married to "Friends" actress Jennifer Aniston.

Pitt and Aniston were idealized as Hollywood's perfect couple, which made rumors that Pitt and Jolie were having an affair all the more shocking.

A month after Aniston filed for divorce in March 2005, Pitt and Jolie were photographed on vacation in Kenya.

In the years that followed, the couple built a family: Jolie adopted her son Maddox in 2002 and her daughter Zahara in 2005 while she was with Pitt. In 2006, their first biological child, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, was born, and they adopted Pax a year later. In 2008, Jolie gave birth to twins: Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline.

The couple got engaged in 2012 and secretly married in France in 2014.

They were photographed together for the final time in July 2016, and Jolie filed for divorce later that year, citing irreconcilable differences and requesting primary custody of their six children.

That September, Pitt was accused of physically abusing one of his children. After an investigation, the FBI agency said no charges had been filed and it would not pursue the case further.

What followed was what is widely regarded as a messy split, with the couple disagreeing over child support, custody, and how to divide their respective stakes in a winery that they bought in 2008, and where they married in 2014.

In 2022, in an FBI report obtained by Rolling Stone and Puck, Jolie alleged Pitt assaulted her on the 2016 flight, was intoxicated, and caused $25,000 worth of damage to their private jet.

At the time, spokespeople for Jolie, Pitt, and the FBI did not respond to BI's requests for comment.

A divorce lawyer for Pitt told the New York Times at the time that while he accepted responsibility for some things in his past, he would not accept responsibility for what he did not do.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

• Nichole Wischoff worked at Citi for a year before leaving for the startup world.
• Wischoff said that even though she made a lot of money in banking, she didn't love her job.
• Working with startups was a better match for her personality, she says.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Nichole Wischoff, 34, founder of Wischoff Ventures. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider previously published essays about her first recruit at Wischoff Ventures, Neal Mintz, and his hiring experience.

I picked up running while on a high school student exchange in Belgium.

Running taught me a lot. For one, there are no short-term wins in running. If you want to finish a marathon, you need to put in a lot of super-consistent work to build up your mileage.

Running taught me to keep chipping away at the things that I really want. There's no such thing as short-term success when building your career. But one thing's for sure — if you are willing to put in the work every day, you will see results over time.

Getting into but not enjoying banking

Before I entered the startup world, I worked on project finance at Citi Community Capital, an arm of Citi that deals with community development lending and investing.

Even though I made a lot of money in banking, I didn't enjoy working there.

To be sure, I loved the work itself. It was challenging and super interesting, but I felt suffocated in that environment. But I felt like I was chained to my desk for 14 to 16 hours a day, working continuously and skipping lunch breaks.

Entering the world of startups and venture capital

Fortunately, because I was based in the Bay Area, I was able to make friends in tech and learn more about their careers.

My then-boyfriend, now husband, worked in tech and he encouraged me to give tech a shot.

When I was recruited by my first tech company, a fintech company named Blend, he helped me negotiate the offer. I ended up getting roughly 40% more than what I was making in banking.

After accumulating years of experience in the startup world, I started making angel investments in startups.

Eventually, I started my early-stage venture capital firm, Wischoff Ventures.

I know that I'm not meant for the boardroom

Looking back at my career, I would say that working with and in startups was a good match for my personality. Startups allow you to do as much as you possibly want until you can't take it anymore.

In contrast, your role will be very structured and defined if you work in a big corporate company. There won't be a lot of flexibility. You will be given three to five objectives, and you need to hit them.

In startups, you get to do a lot of things. You can dabble in business development, product management, and fundraising. I enjoy having variety in my work.

I know, too, that I'm not meant for the boardroom. Even now, as a VC, I don't take board seats because I don't find them to be very interesting or useful. What I want is to help get companies off the ground. I don't want to manage hundreds of employees or report to tons of people.

Of course, I do get really bad days in venture capital now and then. But I have stuck on it because I love the adrenaline of clinching a deal. It could be an addiction, but I love momentum and knowing that I'm making progress every single day.

The truth is, you have to be crazy to raise a venture capital fund. You need to make hundreds of pitches and stomach the rejections.

It is a lot like running a marathon. You have to put in the work every day, and it's not sexy. That's what it takes to make it as a VC. You have to like pain and doing hard things.

• Former President Jimmy Carter died on Sunday at the age of 100.
• Foreign and business leaders celebrated Carter's humanitarian work.
• President-elect Donald Trump said the world owes Carter "a debt of gratitude."

Former President Jimmy Carter died on Sunday at the age of 100. World leaders responded with an outpouring of support, celebrating Carter's legacy as a humanitarian.

The Georgia peanut farmer turned politician served as president from 1977 to 1981. But he is perhaps most known for his humanitarian work after leaving the White House.

Carter championed human rights and pushed for peace in various corners of the world. In 1982, he founded The Carter Center to focus on such issues.

In 2002, Carter received a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to promote peace and human rights. Carter also played an active role with Habitat for Humanity until the end of his life.

"My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love," Carter's son, Chip, said in a statement via The Carter Center on Sunday.

Biden: Carter was "a man of principle, faith, and humility"

President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he would order a state funeral in Washington for Carter.

"Today, America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman, and humanitarian," Biden said in a statement.

"With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us," Biden added. "He saved, lifted, and changed the lives of people all across the globe."

Biden said that the love Carter shared with his late wife, Rosalynn Carter, was "the definition of partnership" and that their leadership was "the definition of patriotism."

Trump: "We all owe him a debt of gratitude"

President-elect Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that Carter's presidency "came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans. For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude."

"While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our Country, and all it stands for," Trump said in a subsequent post.

Trump had earlier criticized Carter's decision to hand over control of the Panama Canal to Panama, saying in a Truth Social Post on December 21 that his predecessor had "foolishly gave it away."

The president-elect recently accused Panama of charging US vessels "exorbitant prices" and threatened to retake control of the canal.

Former presidents and lawmakers tout Carter's post-presidential record

Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama said in a statement on Sunday that Carter had "the longest and most impactful post-presidency in American history."

"Elected in the shadow of Watergate, Jimmy Carter promised voters that he would always tell the truth," the Obamas said.

"And he did — advocating for the public good, consequences be damned. He believed some things were more important than reelection — things like integrity, respect, and compassion," the statement added.

Former President George W. Bush said in his statement that Carter was a "man of deeply held convictions" who "set an example of service that will inspire Americans for generations."

"President Carter dignified the office. And his efforts to leave behind a better world didn't end with the presidency," Bush said.

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that Carter had "worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world."

"I will always be proud to have presented the Medal of Freedom to him and Rosalynn in 1999, and to have worked with him in the years after he left the White House," Bill Clinton said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on X that Carter led an "extraordinary life" that touched countless people's lives through his vision and generosity.

Sen. Bernie Sanders said on X that Carter would be remembered as a "decent, honest and down-to-earth man" for both his time as president and his later humanitarian work.

"He will be sorely missed," Sanders wrote.

US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg shared a tribute to the former president on X, writing that Carter's "leadership, intellect, and moral example ennobled our country, during and ever since his presidency."

Foreign politicians and business leaders hail Carter's peacemaking efforts

On X, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared a photo of the former president wearing a tool belt in front of a construction site with the message: "Today, we honor President Carter's lifetime of service and his commitment to leaving the world better than he found it. May he rest in peace."

Melinda French Gates said in her tribute that Carter was her hero. The philanthropist said she knew Carter best as a "global health advocate" who took on "diseases that impact the world's poorest people, like Guinea worm disease."

"When President Carter left office, there were more than 3.5 million cases of this painful, debilitating disease around the world each year. This year, thanks in no small part to the work of the Carter Center, that number was down to single digits," French Gates wrote.

"One of my favorite teachings says: 'To know that even one life has breathed easier because you lived, this is to have succeeded.' We honor President Carter by remembering that because of him, life is healthier, better, and safer not just for one life, but for millions," she continued.

Carter's death prompted tributes from foreign leaders such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"He was a leader who served during a time when Ukraine was not yet independent, yet his heart stood firmly with us in our ongoing fight for freedom," Zelenskyy said of Carter in his X post.

"We deeply appreciate his steadfast commitment to Christian faith and democratic values, as well as his unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's unprovoked aggression," he added.

"Jimmy Carter's legacy is one of compassion, kindness, empathy, and hard work. He served others both at home and around the world his entire life — and he loved doing it," Trudeau wrote on X. "He was always thoughtful and generous with his advice to me."

King Charles — one of the few living figures from Carter's presidency still active in public life — also posted a tribute.

In the note, Charles said Carter's "dedication and humility served as an inspiration."

He nodded to Carter's 1977 visit to the UK, where Charles appeared in the background of this photo (top left, you can see his head) showing Carter meeting with G7 leaders and Queen Elizabeth II.

• A plane carrying 181 people crashed at an airport in South Korea on Sunday, killing 179.
• Photos and videos show the aircraft overrunning a runway before being engulfed in flames.
• It will likely take months or years to uncover why the plane crashed.

A commercial aircraft crashed at a South Korean airport on Sunday, killing 179 people.

Flight 7C2216, operated by the Korean budget airline Jeju Air, was carrying 181 passengers and crew when it tried to land at Muan International Airport at 9:03 a.m. local time but overran the runway.

A video broadcast by MBC News, a South Korean news network, showed the plane speeding down the runway, with smoke coming from its belly, before it crashed into what appeared to be a barrier and burst into flames.

The flight was traveling from Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.

The aircraft was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 that Ryanair, a budget Irish airline, operated before it was delivered to Jeju Air in 2017, according to the Planespotters.net flight tracking website. It was not a Max variant, which has been embroiled in quality and production problems.

Video footage shows the aircraft landed without its landing gear deployed.

Airline News editor and aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas told Business Insider that a bird strike could have caused a mechanical issue on the plane.

"It's possible that the bird strike prevented the standard landing gear operation," he said. "It's possible, however, the pilots could crank the landing gear down manually."

"But if they had multiple failures related to the engines, then they probably didn't have time to do it, and therefore they simply made a belly-up landing on the runway because they had no options," Thomas added.

Jeju Air CEO Kim Yi-bae told reporters on December 31 that the aircraft's pre-flight inspection found "no issues" and "nothing abnormal was noted with the landing gear," the BBC reported.

South Korea's transport ministry said on Sunday that it plans to conduct a safety inspection of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft in the country, per Yonhap News.

The Boeing 737-800 is a popular aircraft that is used widely around the world.

Cirium data sent to BI found about 4,400 737-800s are used by nearly 200 airlines, representing 15% of the 28,000 passenger planes in service globally.

In a statement to BI, Boeing gave its condolences to families who lost loved ones and said it was in contact with and "ready to support" Jeju Air.

Spokespeople for Jeju Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement posted online, Jeju Air said it was "bowing" its head in apology and would investigate the crash.

A total of 179 people died, including 85 women, 84 men, and 10 others whose gender was not immediately identifiable. Two of the plane's six crew members survived and were conscious, according to local health officials. They were rescued from the tail section of the jet.

On Sunday, South Korea's land ministry said that it had identified 141 out of the 170 bodies, Yonhap News reported.

This is the first fatal crash involving a Jeju plane since the airline was founded in 2005. The last major aviation accident involving a South Korean airline was in 1997 when a Korean Air jet crashed in Guam, killing 228 people.

Reports of birds striking the aircraft

In a televised briefing, Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, said that workers were investigating what caused the crash, including whether birds struck the aircraft.

"It appears that the aircraft wasn't configured for a normal landing — the landing gear wasn't down, and it looks like the wing flaps weren't extended either," Keith Tonkin, the managing director of Aviation Projects, an aviation consulting company in Australia, told BI.

The plane was almost completely destroyed, with the tail assembly the most intact part of the wreckage. After landing, the plane hit a wall, which Thomas said was within international standards, but the plane landed fast and far down the runway.

"The airport complied with international standards," he said. "The landing was anything but international standard."

Officials said that air traffic controllers warned about bird strike risks minutes before the incident, and a surviving crew member mentioned a bird strike after being rescued, The Guardian reported.

Thomas told BI that the pilots reported "mayday" shortly after air traffic controllers issued a bird strike warning. The pilots were then given permission to land on the opposite side of the runway.

Thomas said flight tracking was lost at about 900 feet, suggesting a possible electrical failure.

"I think that could well be one of the pivotal factors in this investigation as to why did it fail," he said. "What does that tell us about what was going on in the cockpit?"

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that Muan International Airport has the highest rate of bird strike incidents among 14 airports nationwide.

Black boxes recovered, but one damaged

The Independent reported that transport ministry officials said they recovered the aircraft's two black boxes: the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.

These provide investigators with information that helps string together the events before and during a crash.

However, Yonhap reported that officials said one of the black boxes, the flight data recorder, was partially damaged. The cockpit voice recorder — which will have information on what the crew said leading up to the crash — remained intact.

CNN reported South Korean investigators have extracted some data from the cockpit voice recorder — the full process will take two days — but the damaged black box will have to be sent to the US for the NTSB to analyze.

Air crash investigations can often take months or years to complete, meaning the cause of the crash likely won't be known for a long time. The damaged black box could further delay the investigation.

The investigation will be led by South Korea, where the crash occurred and Jeju was registered. The National Transportation Safety Board in the United States, where the Boeing jet was manufactured, along with Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, will also be involved, the agency said in a post on X.

Crashes typically have more than one cause — known as the "Swiss Cheese Model" in aviation, a string of smaller errors often leads to an accident, not just one.

"The biggest risk is speculation because it obscures the actual causes of a near-miss, incident, or accident," Simon Bennett, an aviation safety expert at the University of Leicester in the UK, told BI.

"I appreciate that the relatives of the dead and injured will want answers. Understandably, they will want closure," he said. "However, rushing the investigation would do a huge disservice to the aviation community and airlines' customers."

The crash occurred amid a political crisis in South Korea and two days into the tenure of acting President Choi Sang-mok.

Choi took over from the country's previous acting president, Han Duck-soo, who was impeached two weeks after succeeding President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was himself impeached after trying to impose martial law.

• South Korea's national assembly impeached acting president Han Duck-soo on Friday.
• Han took over from President Yoon Suk Yeol on December 14.
• Yoon was impeached after declaring martial law for several hours.

South Korean lawmakers impeached the country's acting president, Han Duck-soo on Friday, just two weeks after he had taken up the post.

Han, who is also the country's prime minister, took over from President Yoon Suk Yeol. Yoon was impeached after declaring martial law in South Korea on December 3.

The Democratic Party, South Korea's main opposition party, filed a motion to impeach Han on December 26.

While impeaching a president requires a two-thirds majority in the 300-seat National Assembly, impeaching a prime minister only requires a simple majority of lawmakers. 192 lawmakers voted on Friday to impeach Han.

Han has been suspended from his duties immediately. The country's finance minister, Choi Sang-mok, is next in line for the acting presidency.

The opposition moved against Han after he refused to appoint three judges to fill the nine-member constitutional court bench.

The constitutional court is the bench that will rule on Yoon's removal from office.

There are currently six justices, and six votes are needed to remove Yoon. This poses a potential obstacle ousting Yoon permanently, as the loss of one vote will allow him to continue to remain president.

The South Korean won on Friday fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009.

This story is developing, please check back for more updates.

• OpenAI and Microsoft have an internal definition for AGI, per The Information.
• The two companies agreed to define AGI as a system that can generate $100 billion in profits.
• OpenAI says on its website that AGI refers to AI systems that are smarter than humans.

OpenAI and Microsoft have a definition for artificial general intelligence, and it hinges on the money the emerging technology can bring in.

The two companies signed an agreement in 2023 that defined AGI as a system that can generate $100 billion in profits, The Information reported on Thursday, citing documents it had obtained.

OpenAI has, however, publicly defined AGI on its website as "a highly autonomous system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable work."

The ChatGPT maker added that its nonprofit board would decide whether AGI has been achieved.

"Such a system is excluded from IP licenses and other commercial terms with Microsoft, which only apply to pre-AGI technology," the company wrote on its website.

OpenAI and Microsoft did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Based on its agreement with Microsoft, OpenAI still has some way to go before it can achieve AGI.

The company expects to accumulate losses of around $44 billion between 2023 to 2028, and could hit $100 billion in revenue in 2029, The Information reported in October, citing financial documents it had obtained.

"My guess is we will hit AGI sooner than most people in the world think and it will matter much less," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said during an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at The New York Times DealBook Summit on December 4.

In November, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI is in preliminary talks with California's attorney general's office about becoming a for-profit company.

OpenAI was initially launched as a nonprofit research organization in 2015. The company closed a $6.6 billion funding round in October, valuing it at $157 billion.

• Elon Musk had some criticism for former Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun on Christmas Day.
• "Boeing is on a much better track with the new CEO," Musk wrote on X.
• Musk said Calhoun, an accounting graduate, "had no idea how airplanes or rockets worked."

Boeing is "on a much better track" after changing CEOs, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday.

Musk was talking about America's shortage of engineering talent on X when he was asked about the embattled aerospace manufacturer.

"That said, talking in terms of specific companies, Boeing is on a much better track with the new CEO. The prior guy had no idea how airplanes or rockets worked. Just zero," Musk wrote in his post.

Boeing was previously led by Dave Calhoun, who served as the company's CEO from January 2020 to July 2024.

The Virginia Tech accounting graduate was succeeded by former Rockwell Collins CEO Kelly Ortberg in August. Ortberg holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Iowa.

When Boeing announced Calhoun's resignation in March, Calhoun said the decision was 100% his own.

"I've entered my fifth year. At the end of this year, I'll be close to 68 years old," Calhoun said in an interview with CNBC.

This isn't the first time Musk has criticized Calhoun's academic background. Back in June, Musk said that Boeing had lost touch with its engineering roots.

"The CEO of an aircraft company should know how to design aircraft, not spreadsheets," Musk wrote in an X post on June 25.

Representatives for Calhoun and Ortberg at Boeing did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment. Musk also did not respond to a request for comment.

Calhoun's departure came amid a deepening quality-control crisis at Boeing.

The aerospace company faced intense scrutiny in January after a door plug flew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 during an Alaskan Airlines flight from Oregon to California.

The incident resulted in a series of investigations from the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Justice, and the National Transportation Safety Board.

According to a Senate subcommittee report on Boeing's safety and quality practices that was published in June, several whistleblowers came forward to express concerns about how Boeing handles faulty plane parts.

Calhoun's predecessor, Dennis Muilenburg, was fired after two crashes involving a different Max variant, the Max 8, killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.

Calhoun publicly apologized to the families of the crash victims during a Senate hearing in June, but defended Boeing's safety record when he was grilled by lawmakers.

"You're proud of the safety record?" Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri asked Calhoun.

"I am proud of every action we've taken," Calhoun said.

In October, Ortberg shared his four-part turnaround plan for Boeing in a memo to employees.

Ortberg's plan called for a fundamental change in the company's culture, a stabilization of its business, an improvement in execution discipline, and the building of a new future for the planemaker.

"We need to be on the factory floors, in the back shops and in our engineering labs. We need to know what's going on, not only with our products, but with our people," Ortberg wrote.

"And most importantly, we need to prevent the festering of issues and work better together to identify, fix, and understand root cause," he added.

Boeing reported a net loss of $6.1 billion in the third quarter of 2024 in the same month. The company recorded a loss of more than $1.4 billion in the previous quarter.

Boeing's shares are down by over 31% this year.

"It will take time to return Boeing to its former legacy, but with the right focus and culture, we can be an iconic company and aerospace leader once again," Ortberg said in his October memo.

• President-elect Donald Trump named Elbridge Colby as his next undersecretary of defense policy.
• In February, Colby said "disabling or destroying TSMC is table stakes" if China invades Taiwan.
• Colby made the same point in 2023, saying the US should never allow TSMC to fall into Chinese hands.

President-elect Donald Trump's pick for undersecretary of defense policy, Elbridge Colby, once called for the destruction of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's chip plants if China takes over Taiwan.

"There's no scenario in which Taiwan falls to the PRC and Taiwanese can expect TSMC and its central role to persist," Colby, a former senior Pentagon official, wrote in an X thread in May 2023.

"If China attacks Taiwan, Taiwan itself and US should not allow TSMC to fall intact into PRC hands," Colby wrote in the thread.

TSMC, Colby wrote, needs to be included in the US' semiconductor sanctions against China in the event that Taiwan surrenders. The US and its allies can't afford to allow China to "have such dominance over global semiconductors," he wrote.

Trump announced Colby's nomination in a Truth Social post on Sunday, calling him a "highly respected advocate for our America First foreign and defense policy."

Colby, a Harvard and Yale Law graduate, was part of the first Trump administration. He served as Trump's deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development from 2017 to 2018.

Colby made a similar point about TSMC in another X post earlier this year.

"Disabling or destroying TSMC is table stakes if China is taking over Taiwan," Colby wrote on February 24.

"Would we be so insane as to allow the world's key semiconductor company fall untouched into the hands of an aggressive PRC?" he added.

Representatives for Trump and Colby did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider. TSMC also did not respond to a request for comment.

TSMC is the world's largest contract chipmaker. It counts US tech giants like Apple and Nvidia as major customers.

Its core base, Taiwan, is also home to smaller chip producers like MediaTek and ASE, making the island a critical node in the global semiconductor supply chain.

According to the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association, 92% of the world's most advanced microchips are produced in Taiwan.

In May, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told lawmakers at a House hearing that a Chinese seizure of TSMC during a Taiwan invasion "would be absolutely devastating." The US is obliged by law to protect Taiwan by providing the island with military means to defend itself.

Under President Joe Biden, the US has strived to diversify its chip supply.

In August 2022, Biden signed the $52 billion CHIPS for America Act, which provides manufacturing incentives for chip production in the US.

The legislation drew criticism from Trump, who said in an interview with Joe Rogan in October that tariffs, not subsidies, would have been more effective.

"You could have done it with tariffs. You tariff it so high that they will come and build their chip companies for nothing," Trump said.

In December, the Biden administration introduced a new raft of export controls on China's semiconductor industry.

The restrictions, which target 140 Chinese companies, mark the third time the administration has cracked down on China's chipmaking industry since October 2022.

The list includes companies like Huawei, Naura Technology Group, and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation.

• Tricia Goh is a final year computer science student at the National University of Singapore.
• Unlike most of her peers, Goh says she is not gunning for a job at a FAANG company.
• Goh received a job offer after competing a six-month internship at a Norwegian software company.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Tricia Goh, 22, a senior at the National University of Singapore studying computer science. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified her education and employment history.

Landing a job in the tech industry isn't as easy as it once was. It's scary to read news stories about how tough the job market is for computer science graduates these days.

Computer science has also become more popular and competitive as a major. There are nearly a thousand students in my batch. This means that each of us could end up fighting with hundreds of people for the same number of roles.

Interestingly, studying computer science wasn't always on the cards for me. Like most Singaporean youths, I had no idea what I wanted to study at university when I graduated from junior college.

To get a better sense of what I wanted to do, I spent the nine months I had before college doing internships. I ended up doing two internships — at a primary school where I taught English and mathematics and at a local IT company that focuses on enterprise software.

Working at that IT company was a transformative experience.

I had the benefit of getting one-to-one guidance from the company's founder, and got to learn more about the tech industry and ecosystem.

The internship ended up sparking my interest in computer science.

In fact, even when school started, I still found myself heading back to the company to help out and brush up on my understanding of areas like cybersecurity and software engineering.

Interning my way to a full-time job

It wasn't easy adapting to university life during my first few semesters.

The curriculum was challenging, and I thought my grades didn't accurately reflect what I could contribute to a company if hired as a full-time employee. That drove me to do more internships to accrue hands-on experience.

This year, I did a six-month internship at a Norwegian software company. The company recently set up its headquarters in Singapore, and I participated in its efforts to break into the Asian market.

At the end of this internship, I was offered a full-time job.

Rejecting the FAANG rat race to walk my own path

Many of my peers are gunning for top high-paying jobs at FAANG companies like Facebook and Google.

People like me who don't aim for those positions often get asked questions like, "Why aren't you going for the best jobs out there? Why aren't you trying to get a job at Google?"

However, I have no regrets about prioritizing my own growth by working at a smaller company.

Working at a FAANG company may be something that many computer science students see themselves doing, but such a goal isn't in line with what I want out of my career.

My long-term goal is to become an entrepreneur and start my own company. I know that I won't be happy earning lots of money if it means working long hours.

I would rather do something more fulfilling that still allows me to support my family and live well. I don't mind opting out of the hustle of chasing big-name companies for smaller learning experiences instead.

Do you have a story to tell about your tech or finance career? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected].

• Steve Ballmer said his investment strategy is partly influenced by Warren Buffett.
• But Ballmer, whose net worth is larger than Buffett's, has an unconventional investment portfolio.
• More than 80% of Ballmer's portfolio is held in Microsoft stock, per The Wall Street Journal.

Steve Ballmer has an unorthodox investing approach.

The former Microsoft CEO is worth $151 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the ninth richest person the world.

That puts him ahead of famed investor Warren Buffett by a nearly $10 billion margin.

In an interview published Sunday, Ballmer told The Wall Street Journal that his investment strategy is partly influenced by Buffett, who has long said that since most people picking stocks cannot beat the returns of a general index fund. But there's one key difference.

The Journal reported that Ballmer keeps more than 80% of his portfolio in Microsoft stock. The rest is held in index funds. Ballmer declined to say how large his stake is in Microsoft.

"Microsoft's outperformed just about every other asset I could have owned," Ballmer told the Journal.

Ballmer's investment strategy goes against conventional wisdom, which suggests that people reduce their risk by diversifying their capital across different asset classes. And the world's wealthiest people typically go beyond stocks and bonds to invest in non-liquid assets like private equity and real estate. Ballmer said he is "mostly dialing out of private equity."

To be sure, Ballmer wasn't always going against the trend.

The 68-year-old tried diversifying in the past but said he struggled to find money managers who consistently beat the market.

"The only stock I really study still is Microsoft, because that's still overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly the No. 1 thing that I own," Balmer told the outlet.

Ballmer began his career at Microsoft in 1980 and succeeded founder Bill Gates as CEO in 2000.

According to regulatory filings, Ballmer held 333 million shares, or a 4% stake, in Microsoft when he stepped down as CEO in 2014.

Microsoft's shares are up 16.1% this year. The Seattle-based tech giant has been in front of the AI race with huge bets on startups like Sam Altman's OpenAI and France's Mistral AI.

In October, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in an earnings call that the company's AI business is on track to top an annual revenue run rate of $10 billion next quarter.

This would make it the fastest business in Microsoft's history to reach that milestone, Nadella added.

Ballmer attributes his bumper gains in Microsoft's stock to luck.

"Forget the stock price. I had luck, essentially, in getting to listen to the right people," Ballmer told the Journal.

"But I also had luck in terms of my loyalty to the company and not wanting to be a seller as a leader of the business. It turned out to be a great investment thing, too," he added.

Ballmer did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Nissan and Honda are reportedly considering a merger.
• But former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said the move suggests that Nissan is in "panic mode."
• "There is practically no complementarity between the two companies," Ghosn told Bloomberg on Friday.

The potential merger between Japanese automakers Nissan and Honda is a "desperate move," said Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's former CEO.

On Tuesday, Japanese newspaper Nikkei said the two companies are entering into merger negotiations.

Pooling their resources would allow Nissan and Honda to better compete against rivals in the electric vehicle space like Tesla and China's EV makers, the outlet reported.

Honda and Nissan are the second and third largest automakers in Japan, respectively. Their local rival, Toyota, is the world's biggest automaker.

A Nissan-Honda merger would result in the world's third-largest car company by volume.

Last week, Nissan and Honda told Business Insider that they are "considering various possibilities for future collaboration" but added that "no decisions have been made."

Ghosn said in an interview with Bloomberg on Friday that pursuing a merger with Honda suggests that Nissan is in "panic mode."

"It's not a pragmatic deal because frankly, the synergies between the two companies are difficult to find," Ghosn said.

"There is practically no complementarity between the two companies. They are on the same markets. They have the same products. The brands are very similar," he added.

Ghosn, Nissan, and Honda did not respond to requests for comment from BI.

Ghosn, once considered a legend in the auto industry, experienced a dramatic fall from grace in 2018.

The former CEO and chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance was arrested in Japan and charged with financial crimes in November 2018.

Ghosn was detained in a Japanese jail for over 100 days, before he fled the country by smuggling himself to Lebanon in a musical-instrument case in December 2019.

The disgraced auto chief has maintained his innocence. Last year, Ghosn filed a billion-dollar lawsuit against Nissan in Lebanon for damaging his finances and reputation.

On Friday, Ghosn told Bloomberg that the Japanese government — specifically Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry — was likely behind the Nissan-Honda merger talks.

"So at the end of the day, they're trying to figure out something that could marry the short-term problems of Nissan and the long-term vision of Honda," Ghosn said.

The merger talks come at a precarious time for Nissan, which has been grappling with falling profits and decreased sales this year. Last month, Nissan cut 9,000 jobs globally in a bid to reduce costs. The company's stock is down 20.7% this year.

Nissan is also facing increased competition from Chinese EV makers like BYD, as automakers vie for market share in developing markets like Southeast Asia and Latin America. Data compiled by the technology firm ABI Research for BI showed that Chinese carmakers accounted for 70% of the EV market in Thailand and 88% in Brazil in the first quarter of this year.

Nissan initially led the EV race when it launched the world's first mass-market EV, the Leaf, in 2010.

But the Japanese car company's EV strategy has since floundered. Nissan is one of the few car manufacturers in the US without a hybrid or plug-in offering.

"Nissan finds itself now with a very poor lineup of products and without obvious leadership in EVs, and that's the direct result of poor management," Andy Palmer, the former chief operating officer of Nissan, told BI in November.

• China wants to hit a military modernization milestone in 2027.
• But China's ongoing crackdown on military corruption could disrupt its progress, says the Pentagon.
• China suspended a top military official last month, a year after firing its last defense minister.

China's near-term military modernization goal could be bogged down by its corruption scandals, a senior US defense official said on Monday.

"The substantial problems they have with corruption that have yet to be resolved certainly could slow them down on the path toward the 2027 capabilities development milestone and beyond," the official told journalists during a press briefing.

A transcript of the briefing was published on Wednesday, the same day the Defense Department released its annual assessment on China's military capabilities.

According to the Pentagon's report, at least 15 high-ranking Chinese military officials and defense industry executives were removed from their positions between July and December 2023.

Last month, The Financial Times reported that defense minister Adm. Dong Jun was under investigation for graft, the third consecutive person in the role to be investigated. A defense ministry spokesperson denied the FT's report, calling it a "sheer fabrication."

Also last month, China's defense ministry said a senior military official, Adm. Miao Hua, was suspended and under investigation for "serious violations of discipline." The accusation usually refers to corruption.

The 69-year-old oversaw political indoctrination in the People's Liberation Army and served on the Central Military Commission. The six-person commission, chaired by China's leader, Xi Jinping, oversees China's armed forces.

Miao's suspension came just a year after China's last defense minister, Gen. Li Shangfu was fired. Li was in office for seven months before he was removed.

Li and his predecessor, Wei Fenghe, were eventually expelled from the Chinese Communist Party for alleged corruption in June. They were also stripped of their military ranks.

"In 2023, a new wave of corruption-related investigations and removals of senior leaders may have disrupted the PLA's progress toward stated 2027 modernization goals," the Pentagon's report said.

Earlier this year, US intelligence highlighted corruption effects including missiles filled with water and intercontinental ballistic missile silos sporting improperly functioning lids that could derail a missile launch.

US intelligence sources told Bloomberg in January that corruption was so severe in China's Rocket Force and the wider PLA that it would most likely force Xi to recalibrate whether Beijing can take on any major military action soon.

US officials believe that Xi wants China to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. China first announced the modernization goal in October 2020. The 2027 milestone will coincide with the centennial of the PLA's founding.

"That doesn't mean that he's decided to invade in 2027 or any other year," CIA chief William J. Burns said in an interview with CBS in February 2023.

Representatives for China's defense and foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• Elon Musk's DOGE has hired about 10 people so far, per Bloomberg.
• Boring Co. CEO Steve Davis and ex-Trump tech adviser Michael Kratsios are interviewing hires.
• The commission said in November that applicants could send their résumés via DM on X.

Elon Musk is tapping a mix of old and new faces to meet DOGE's staffing needs.

Last month, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Musk would co-lead an advisory group called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.

DOGE, Trump said in his announcement, would be tasked with slashing excess regulations and trimming wasteful government spending. The commission is set to conclude its work by July 4, 2026.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that The Boring Company CEO Steve Davis and former US chief technology officer Michael Kratsios were interviewing potential hires. DOGE has hired about 10 people thus far, the outlet reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Musk's commission is also looking to recruit software engineers, including those with experience in artificial intelligence, per Bloomberg.

Much of the group's staffing is still unclear, including whether these are full-time roles, where they will be based, and how they will be paid.

According to a Bloomberg, DOGE is currently operating out of a SpaceX-leased office located near the White House.

In November, Musk said in an X post that DOGE employees will be involved in "tedious work" and draw zero compensation.

DOGE so far: a mix of Musk and Trump staffers

Davis is no stranger to Musk's enterprises.

The Boring Company chief holds a doctoral degree in economics from George Mason University and started out as a SpaceX engineer. Musk later handpicked Davis to run his tunneling company.

Davis was also involved in Musk's purchase of Twitter in 2022 and played a key role in Musk's pro-Trump super PAC, America PAC.

Joining Davis is Kratsios, who served as Trump's top technology advisor during his first administration. Prior to joining the Trump administration, Kratsios was tech billionaire Peter Thiel's chief of staff and a principal at Thiel Capital.

Kratsios is a managing director at Scale AI, a data labeling startup.

DOGE's first reported hire was announced by Trump — not Musk or Ramaswamy — earlier this month.

In a Truth Social post on December 4, Trump said that Republican lawyer William Joseph McGinley will serve as the commission's counsel.

McGinley, a former partner at the law firm Jones Day, served as Trump's White House cabinet secretary from 2017 to 2019.

Silicon Valley appears to have figured prominently in Musk's work on DOGE.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has reportedly been consulting Silicon Valley leaders, such as venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and Uber cofounder turned food tech entrepreneur Travis Kalanick, about his plans for the commission.

In November, the commission started an account on Musk's social network X and said that applicants could send in their CVs via direct message.

"We don't need more part-time idea generators. We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting," the post said.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Nissan and Honda are considering a merger to help them compete in the EV industry.
• The news sent Nissan stocks skyrocketing by as much as 24% in early trading on Wednesday local time.
• The Japanese car companies are struggling with slumping profits and stock prices.

Honda and Nissan are set to negotiate a possible merger that could see the two Japanese car heavyweights strengthen their existing ties and increase their collective power locally and globally.

Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported news of the possible merger on Tuesday, adding that the two car companies are hoping their combined resources will help both compete against Tesla and Chinese electric vehicle makers.

The two companies are in talks to set up an umbrella holding company to facilitate a merger, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing a person with knowledge of the discussions.

"As announced in March of this year, Honda and Nissan are exploring various possibilities for future collaboration, leveraging each other's strengths," a spokesperson for Honda said in a statement to Business Insider on Tuesday.

"We will inform our stakeholders of any updates at an appropriate time," the statement added.

The merger could also include another automaker: Mitsubishi Motors, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Nissan is Mitsubishi's largest shareholder.

"The contents of the report is not something that has been announced by our company. Nothing has been decided at the moment," Mitsubishi said in a statement to BI.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that the parent company of Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn had approached Nissan to take a controlling stake in the automaker.

Representatives for Nissan and Foxconn did not immediately respond to BI's request for comment.

The news sent Nissan stocks skyrocketing. The company's shares were nearly 24% higher when local markets closed on Wednesday.

The stock's uptick follows a particularly difficult year for the car company. Amid falling profits and decreased sales, Nissan slashed its workforce by 9,000 jobs globally in November in an effort to reduce costs. Nissan's shares are down nearly 25% this year.

The potential consolidation comes after Honda and Nissan agreed to collaborate on EV batteries and software earlier this year.

During Nissan's November earnings call, CEO Makoto Uchida acknowledged that the company had fallen behind, saying the automaker needed to strengthen its competitiveness.

"There are limits if we are to do that alone. So, that had triggered us to engage in partnership with Honda," Uchida said on the call.

Honda investors, however, seemed less thrilled by the news.

The company's shares closed 3% lower on Wednesday. Honda's stock is down by over 15% this year.

December 18, 12:15 a.m. — This story has been updated with statements from Honda and Mitsubishi Motors.

• Elon Musk is the founder-CEO of rocket company SpaceX.
• But Musk isn't privy to all of SpaceX's classified work with the US government, per the WSJ.
• Musk obtained top-secret clearance in 2022.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's security clearance doesn't grant him complete access to the company's classified work with the US government.

Musk isn't allowed to enter SpaceX facilities where classified information is being deliberated upon, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The billionaire also isn't privy to the classified cargo SpaceX launches into space as part of the company's contracts with US national security agencies, per the outlet.

In October, Musk said at a Trump campaign event in Pennsylvania that he has "top-secret clearance" for his work at SpaceX.

Musk obtained his top-secret clearance in 2022, following a review process that took years, the Journal reported. SpaceX's lawyers had advised the company not to seek a higher security clearance for Musk because he would have to disclose details about his drug use and interactions with foreign nationals.

In 2018, Musk appeared to smoke a joint during an interview with Joe Rogan. Musk later said in an interview with "60 Minutes" that he had "no idea how to smoke pot."

When the Journal reported about Musk's drug use in January, he said that "not even trace quantities were found of any drugs or alcohol" in his system when NASA requested that he undergo three years of random drug testing.

As for interactions with foreign nationals, Musk's business dealings have seen him meet with various foreign leaders over the years.

In April, Musk visited China, where he met with Premier Li Qiang, the country's second-highest-ranking politician. The two discussed the roll-out of Tesla's self-driving technology in China.

In October, the Journal reported that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. In a statement, SpaceX said the Journal's story was "incredibly misleading" and based on "completely unsubstantiated claims."

Musk and Trump's relationship grows closer

Musk's clearance status might no longer be a problem for him, given his close relationship with President-elect Donald Trump.

Musk endorsed Trump and spent at least $119 billion on his campaign. In the past weeks, he has reportedly joined Trump on calls with world leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In November, Trump announced Musk as the co-lead of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO will lead the commission alongside Vivek Ramaswamy.

Musk and Ramaswamy have talked about significantly reducing the size of the federal workforce and shutting down entire government agencies like the Department of Education and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2002. It was valued at about $350 billion during the latest round of staff share purchases. Musk is currently worth an estimated $455 billion, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him the richest person in the world by a roughly $200 billion margin.

Representatives for Musk at SpaceX and the Defense Department did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.