Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday to tour the EV maker’s new engineering headquarters. According to sources, the meeting at Tesla’s Palo Alto office focused on the company’s plans to create jobs and expand in the state. Tesla plans to hire engineers proficient in research, development, and artificial intelligence. More: - Tesla aims to accelerate its efforts to develop autonomous driving and robot technology.
- Tesla is taking over the lease for the office space previously occupied by Hewlett-Packard.
- Musk referred to the move as a poetic transition from the founders of Silicon Valley to Tesla.
- Musk said the location would be Tesla’s global engineering headquarters and called Tesla a California-Texas company.
- Tesla moved its main headquarters to Austin, Texas, in 2021 after clashing with California officials in 2020 over the state’s COVID-19 policies.
- At the end of last year, Tesla and its subsidiaries had about 128,000 employees globally.
- The company had 47,000 employees in California.
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Philip Morris International plans to keep its business in Russia after talks to sell its assets in the country went up in smoke. The Marlboro cigarettes maker said it had been in discussions with at least three potential buyers, but the deals fell through due to strict Kremlin terms that would result in heavy losses for the company. More: - Following the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Russian government implemented several policies that allowed it to dictate the value of a foreign company's Russian assets.
- According to Philip Morris International filings, the company's assets in Russia are worth $2.5B.
- CEO Jacek Olczak said he had a duty to shareholders to recover value and has been unable to find a buyer to execute the transaction.
- Olczak said he would rather keep the company's current operation in place.
- According to research by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), less than 9% of EU and G7 companies had left Russia by the end of 2022.
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Toyota has agreed to increase the base pay of its unionized workers in Japan. The wage increase is the largest in nearly two decades, though neither Toyota nor the union specified the percentage. The move is expected to cause other automakers to also hike their wages. Following Toyota’s announcement, Honda accepted its union’s demand to increase wages by 5%. More: - Other Japanese companies recently announcing wage increases include Nintendo, Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing, and drinks group Suntory.
- Firms have been under pressure from the Japanese government to raise wages as inflation in the country reaches 40-year highs.
- Incoming Toyota CEO Koji Sato said the company is at the forefront of encouraging wealth distribution to the entire auto industry.
- Toyota said its wage increase would also apply to part-time and senior contract workers.
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Coinbase released its Q4 and FY2022 earnings on Tuesday, reporting a nearly 75% drop in revenue from a year ago. The crypto firm reported $604.9M in net revenue for the quarter, down from $2.49B in Q4 FY2021. Total transaction revenue was $322.1M, down from $2.28B reported in the previous year and $366.9M reported in the prior quarter. More: - Coinbase reported a net loss of $557M for the quarter, or $2.46 a share, from a net income of $840.2M reported in Q4 FY2021.
- The crypto firm reported 8.3 million monthly transacting users (MTUs) during the quarter, down from 8.5 million MTUs reported in the prior period.
- Full-year total transaction revenue was $2.36B, down from $6.84B reported in 2021.
- Coinbase has announced two rounds of layoffs since June 2022.
- Last month the crypto firm cut 20% of its workforce.
- Coinbase ended FY2022 with 4,510 full-time employees from 3,730 reported at the end of 2021.
- Coinbase shares were down more than 6% during morning trading on Wednesday.
- It closed at $61.18, down 1.43% for the day.
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Automaker Stellantis released its FY2022 results on Wednesday, reporting a record profit for the year. Stellantis auto brands include Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, and Peugeot. The automaker reported net revenues of €179.6B ($190.4B), up 18% YoY. Net profit was €16.8B ($17.8B), up 26% YoY. More: - Stellantis reported a 41% increase in EV sales to 288,000 and aims to sell more than 5 million EVs by 2030.
- Following record results in North America, Stellantis announced that eligible U.S. workers represented by the United Auto Workers union would receive profit-sharing payouts of $14,760.
- The company also announced a €1.34 ($1.42) per share dividend payout totaling €4.2B) ($4.45B), subject to shareholder approval.
- The company’s board also approved a €1.5B ($1.6B) share repurchase program to be executed by the end of 2023.
- Stellantis shares were up more than 3% during afternoon trading on Wednesday.
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McKinsey & Co. plans to cut 2,000 jobs as part of a restructuring. The consulting firm said it is redesigning the way its non-client serving teams operate so that these teams could better support and scale with the company. According to sources, the plan is called Project Magnolia. More: - The move is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks, with the number of positions to be cut still being discussed.
- The firm still plans to continue hiring for client-serving roles as demand for these positions is still strong.
- McKinsey employs about 45,000 workers, with more than half in client-facing roles.
- The consulting firm earned a record $15B in revenue in 2021, surpassing that in 2022.
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- According to sources, missing Chinese investment banker Bao Fan was planning to move some of his wealth and operations from China and Hong Kong to Singapore before he disappeared.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Moscow on Wednesday. Both countries promised to deepen their political mutual trust and strategic cooperation.
- More than 1,300 flights have been canceled in the U.S. as a winter storm sweeps across the country. Winter weather advisories have been issued across 20 states from California to Maine.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie writes the daily Inside Business newsletter. Her interests include finance, technology, and entrepreneurship. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending concerts and music festivals, traveling, and exploring. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or on LinkedIn. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
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