EV giant Tesla Inc. (TSLA) has seemingly hired Henry Kuang, a former Cruise employee, as Director of Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning for Autonomous Driving.

According to Kuang’s LinkedIn profile, he joined Tesla in Palo Alto, California, in May. The engineer was previously the senior director and head of autonomy at General Motors’ (GM) failed self-driving unit, Cruise.

Before Cruise, Kuang also spent over 20 years at Facebook, now Meta Platforms (META). Electrek first reported the news of Kuang joining Tesla.

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Arnab Paul·2d ago

Tesla’s stock edged 0.59% higher in morning trade.

Tesla's Vice President of AI Software Ashok Elluswamy, however, dismissed the appointment in a post on X, terming it 'fake news.'

Cruise, founded in 2013 and acquired by GM in 2016, was a major robotaxi player in the U.S. in the league of Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOG/GOOGL) Waymo until Oct. 2023, when a Cruise robotaxi got involved in an accident in San Francisco. The accident led to increased regulatory scrutiny, and the company subsequently suspended all of its operations in the U.S.

In December 2024, GM said it would no longer fund Cruise‘s robotaxi development but instead combine the unit into its technical teams. Robotaxi development work needs considerable time and resources to scale, GM reasoned, while adding that the robotaxi market is getting increasingly competitive.

According to Kuang’s LinkedIn, he left Cruise in 2024.

Tesla, meanwhile, pilot-launched its robotaxi service in a geofenced area within Austin earlier this week. Company CEO Elon Musk is hopeful of expanding the service to add more vehicles and regions in time.

Musk is optimistic that the company’s full self-driving (FSD) software, which currently requires active human supervision, will eventually enable fully autonomous driving.

The reports of Kuang’s joining comes on the heels of two high-profile exits at the EV giant this month. On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that senior executive Omead Afshar left the company. Afshar was promoted last year to oversee sales and manufacturing operations in North America and Europe.

Earlier this month, Milan Kovac, head of engineering for Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot program, also left the company.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Tesla is trending in the ‘neutral’ territory.

The stock is down by 19% this year but up by about 66% over the past 12 months.

Read Next: Uber, Lyft Stocks Slip After Canaccord Downgrade Citing Autonomous Vehicle Uncertainty, But Retail Remains Positive

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect the comments of Tesla's Vice President of AI Software Ashok Elluswamy.

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Investment bank Canaccord last night downgraded Lyft Inc. (LYFT) and Uber Technologies Inc. (UBER), citing uncertainty over the potential of autonomous vehicles to dominate the market.

Canaccord downgraded Lyft to ‘Hold’ from ‘Buy’ with a price target of $14, down from $22 .It also downgraded Uber to ‘Hold’ with a price target of $84, down from $90.

Lyft’s stock was trading 2% lower on Friday morning, while Uber’s stock edged 1% lower. 

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Arnab Paul·2d ago

Canaccord’s new price target on Lyft represents a near 12% downside to the stock’s closing price on Thursday and the new price target on Uber represents a 10% downside to the stock’s closing price of $93.12 in the last trading session.

The future of Uber and Lyft "could be bright," providing value-added services in the autonomous vehicle world through hybrid human-robot networks, strong on-the-ground operations, and other tactical elements, the analyst told investors in a research note, as per TheFly.

However, an alternative scenario is also plausible, where a world dominated by a few autonomous vehicle "behemoths" controls the value chain and leaves Uber and Lyft "reflecting on the golden days of the past," contends Canaccord.

The firm believes the outcome "is truly unclear." It does expect continued growth "for now," saying both companies have strong service platforms and continue to grow ride-share.

However, it sees uncertainty and potential for "rapid disruption" as the autonomous vehicle market crystallizes.

The robotaxi market in the U.S. is currently dominated by Alphabet Inc. (GOOG, GOOGL) unit Waymo. Waymo currently operates over 1,500 robotaxis in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin and provides more than 250,000 paid trips each week.

Earlier this week, EV giant Tesla Inc. (TSLA) also pilot-launched its robotaxi service in a geofenced area within Austin. While the launch was small, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously said that the company will add more vehicles and cities to the service over time.

Other players in the segment include Zoox, the autonomous vehicle company owned by Amazon.com (AMZN).

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Uber jumped from ‘extremely bullish’ to ‘bullish’ territory over the past 24 hours, while sentiment around Lyft stayed unchanged within the bullish territory.

While Uber’s stock is up by 52% this year, Lyft is up by about 19%.

Read Next: BioCryst To Sell European Business Of Its Hereditary Angioedema Drug To Pay Off Debt: Stock Rises While Retail Stays Bearish

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European Union Council President Antonio Costa said NATO’s decision to more than double its collective defense spending target has resolved what he described as the main trade-related friction between Europe and the U.S.

Broader equity markets were trending higher in pre-market trade on Friday after confirmation from Beijing that a framework for a US-China trade deal has been finalized, and on hopes that more deals, especially with India and the EU, may be announced soon. 

The SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY), the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA), and the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (QQQ), which tracks the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100, all climbed around 0.3% each.

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Arnab Paul·2d ago

In an interview with CNBC, Costa said the increase in defense budgets across NATO member states will likely include a significant uptick in purchases from American defense manufacturers, helping rebalance transatlantic trade.

“And of course, if we buy more American, that means then the trade relations rebalance,” Costa said. “That’s the reason — because I have said always that we cannot separate these two negotiations about defense — [that this] was the most important issue for the United States, and [it] is already solved.”

He echoed President Donald Trump’s sentiment that the military agreement between NATO allies and the U.S. is a “big win.”

Currently, U.S. trade partners are racing to finalize trade deals before Trump’s July 9 deadline for restarting tariffs. However, that deadline is “not critical” as per White House press secretary Karoline Levitt. On Thursday, she told reporters that any extension of the deadline was at the discretion of President Trump. 

A team from India has also reportedly arrived in Washington to negotiate tariffs. “We are having some great deals. We have on coming up, maybe, with India, a very big one, where we are going to open up India,” Trump said at a White House event on Thursday. 

According to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the Trump administration is close to reaching deals with 10 trading partners.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Read also: Crackdown On Apple, Meta, Google Does Not ‘Challenge’ Trump Tariff Push, Says EU Competition Chief

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BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BCRX) on Friday said that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its European Orladeyo business to Italian pharmaceutical company Neopharmed Gentili for up to $264 million.

BCRX shares were up by over 4% in the pre-market session, following the news.

As per the terms of the agreement, Neopharmed Gentili will pay BioCryst $250 million upfront for the European assets and rights related to Orladeyo. Biocryst is also eligible to receive up to $14 million in future milestone payments.

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Arnab Paul·2d ago

Orladeyo, also known as berotralstat, is a prescription medicine used to prevent attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE) in adults and children 12 years of age and older. Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a rare genetic disorder causing recurring episodes of severe swelling in various body parts, including the limbs, face, intestinal tract, and airway.

BioCryst plans to use the proceeds from the transaction to retire all remaining term debt of $249 million from Pharmakon, which will eliminate approximately $70 million of future interest payments.

The biotech company expects the transaction to result in at least $50 million in expected annual operating expense savings for BioCryst. It also expects to end 2027 with approximately $700 million in cash and no term debt, marking an increase of $400 million from its previous 2027 net cash guidance.

In the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, BioCryst reported Orladeyo net revenue of $134.2 million, marking a growth of 51% year-on-year. Oraledyo revenue, in fact, accounted for about 92% of the company’s overall revenue in the period.

However, sales from the U.S. contributed 89.5% of global Orladeyo net revenues in the first quarter, implying the European business accounted for only a small portion.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around BCRX stayed unchanged within ‘bearish’ territory over the past 24 hours, accompanied by ‘low’ levels of retail chatter.

However, a Stocktwits user expressed surprise at the deal and opined that the additional cash makes it easier for the company to find a buyer if that is what it intends to do.

Another opined that the deal makes the company an ‘irresistible candy’ with no debt.

Biocryst had also said in May that it expects to be profitable for the full year 2025, a year ahead of schedule.

BCRX stock is up by 28% this year and by about 58% over the past 12 months.

Read Next: Meta Slams EU As ‘Closed For Business’ After $200M Fine, Warning of Daily Penalties

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The European Union’s increased scrutiny of Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META), and Alphabet’s (GOOG/GOOGL) Google does not mean to “challenge” the ongoing trade negotiations between President Donald Trump and the trade bloc, EU competition chief Teresa Ribera said on Friday.

In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Ribera brushed aside the idea that the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which has brought a number of disciplinary measures against U.S. tech giants and has been slammed by Trump as an unfair tax on Silicon Valley, is any kind of bargaining chip in the tariff negotiations between the U.S. and the E.U.

“We do not challenge the United States on how they implement their rules or how they adopt regulations,” Ribera said. “We deserve respect in the same way.”

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Arnab Paul·2d ago

Meta’s stock was up 0.85% in pre-market trade on Friday, while Apple and Alphabet’s stock edged 0.5% higher.

The EU chief’s comments come on the heels of Facebook-parent Meta being fined €200 million ($234 million) on Friday after the European Commission ruled that the company’s ‘Consent or Pay’ model violated its rules. 

The Commission also warned that the Mark Zuckerberg-owned enterprise could face additional daily fines if it doesn’t fix the problem within the next 60 days.

Similarly, Apple has come under fire for not allowing third-party developers to direct customers away from the Apple ecosystem to make purchases. The iPhone maker just implemented changes to its App Store to appease the Commission after already having paid a €500 million ($580 million) fine. 

Meanwhile, Google has been fighting to overturn a record €4.1 billion ($4.7 billion) antitrust fine, which was reduced in 2022 by the EU’s General Court from €4.34 billion, but without much luck. Last week, a judge of the trading bloc’s top court – the European Court of Justice – advised the court to throw out Google’s appeal and confirm the fine.

The EU is reportedly racing to finalize a trade deal with the US before the tariffs on its exports to the US jump to 50% after the July 9 deadline. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, EU leaders have been debating whether they want to lower tariffs on a range of U.S. imports to speed up the process. 

However, the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that the deadline is “not critical,” but whether or not an extension will happen depends on President Trump.

(Exchange rate: €1 = $1.17)

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Read also: Meta Slams EU As ‘Closed For Business’ After $200M Fine, Warning of Daily Penalties

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The European Commission slapped a $234 million fine on Meta Platforms (META) on Friday, ruling that the platform’s ‘Consent or Pay’ model violates the EU’s Digital Markets Act. It also warned that the company has 60 days to bring the model into compliance, or it could face additional daily fines. 

Meta, meanwhile, accused the Commission of unfair treatment and shifting the goalposts during two months of negotiations that led to the €200 million fine.

"At a time when there are growing voices across Europe to change direction and focus on innovation and growth, this signals that the EU remains closed for business," a Meta spokesperson said. "A user choice between a subscription for no ads service or a free ad supported service remains a legitimate business model for every company in Europe - except Meta." 

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Arnab Paul·2d ago

Despite the EU’s ruling, Meta’s stock edged 0.7% higher in Friday morning trade. However, retail sentiment around the company on Stocktwits remained in ‘bearish’ territory over the past 24 hours despite ‘high’ levels of chatter.

In its statement, Meta maintained that its current model complies with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). "We are confident that the range of choices we offer people in the EU doesn't just comply with what the EU's rules require - it goes well beyond them," the spokesperson said.

According to the European Commission, there were two key problems with Meta’s ‘Consent of Pay’ model. One was the lack of a truly equivalent choice. The Commission said that users were not offered a free, less personalized, yet comparable version of the service as required by EU law.  

It argued that most people would naturally choose the free options, giving Meta consent under pressure, which raises the second issue that consent wasn’t given freely. The Commission said that there’s an imbalance of power between Meta and its users since refusing consent means paying a fee. 

The EU is still reviewing Meta’s 'free with less tracking’ option, which was introduced in November last year, and is yet to decide whether that version complies with the rules. 

Meta Platform’s stock has gained over 23% this year and more than 43% over the past 12 months. 

(Exchange rate: €1 = $1.17)

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Read also: Core Scientific Surges On Report Of Renewed CoreWeave Acquisition Talks – Stock Hits 6-Month High

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