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|  |  | Friday, July 11, 2025 | | Sponsored by |  | .jpg) | | Zamek/VIEWpress | | Good morning, Quartz
readers! |
| | HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW | | Miner threat
detected. The Pentagon will become the largest shareholder (15%) of U.S.-based rare-earth-minerals company MP Material as part of a multimillion-dollar stock deal. |
| | Beef goes both ways. After Trump said Brazil would face a 50% tariff over the “WITCH HUNT” of the country’s former president, its current president is warning of retaliation. |
| | Brief encounter of the chip kind. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is heading to China to meet with top Beijing officials amid chip curbs and ahead of the launch of China-specific AI chips. |
| | The hills have AIs. Elon Musk says Tesla’s robotaxis will head to San Francisco “probably” in a month or two after the self-driving cars debuted in Austin (a launch regulators are looking into). |
| | Tesla gets talkative. A day after Musk announced the latest iteration of his AI chatbot, Grok 4, he said the LLM would be integrated into Teslas “next week at the latest.” |
| | A bit of a boom. Bitcoin soared to $113,000 in a record-breaking rally thanks to institutional investors and pro-crypto administration policies; the cryptocurrency
is up 50% from April lows. |
| | A MESSAGE FROM RAMIT SETHI |  | MASTER YOUR MONEY. LIVE RICH. | Ramit Sethi, a NYT bestselling author and Netflix host, helps millions live their richest lives. Get expert financial insights, strategies, and real-world advice delivered directly to your inbox. | | | MUSK BE NICE TO SHAREHOLDERS | Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting is officially on the books for November 6 — four months past a legal deadline. According to Texas law (where Tesla is incorporated), public companies must hold shareholder meetings within 13 months of the last one. Tesla’s 2024 meeting? June. This year’s deadline? July 13. The
company’s response? A midweek SEC filing that might raise more questions than it answers.
The late notice came just one day after a coalition of 27 state officials and institutional investors — managing over $1.5 trillion in assets — issued a pointed letter demanding a date. Tesla, in turn, delivered one… barely. But while the filing may temporarily calm regulators and shareholders, it’s still unclear if this 11th-hour announcement satisfies Texas law. Tesla offered no explanation
for the delay, no written shareholder consent on record.
This bureaucratic dance comes amid rising tensions between Tesla’s board and its investors, who are already fuming over governance lapses and CEO Elon Musk’s increasingly political turn. Since Tesla reincorporated in Texas earlier this year, the board has limited shareholders’ ability to sue or propose resolutions. And just last month, Texas made it even harder to hold executives accountable — convenient timing for a company
such as Tesla that’s clearly not rushing to be held accountable.
And yet, there’s plenty to hold Tesla accountable for. The stock is down 20% this year. Sales are slumping. Tesla is betting the future on robotaxis, AI chatbots, and vague promises of fully self-driving cars — none of which are yet generating revenue at scale. Meanwhile, Musk is launching a third political party, feuding with President Trump, and pushing to integrate Grok (his chatbot) into Tesla dashboards. The Venn
diagram of Musk’s ventures is rapidly becoming a governance nightmare.
| | WINGIN' IT | Delta Air Lines just did something Wall Street hasn’t seen in a while: It drew a line in the sand. On Thursday, the carrier reinstated its full-year earnings guidance, becoming one of the first major companies to replant its flag after months of macroeconomic murk. The airline had pulled its forecast back in April amid economic jitters, tariff whiplash, and a mood that could best be described as “unseasonably foggy.” The earnings guidance doesn’t represent a victory lap — it was more of a careful
tiptoe onto firmer ground — but in a year defined by C-suite radio silence, Delta’s willingness to forecast again stands out.
The new numbers are a far cry from January’s sky-high targets. Back then, Delta projected 2025 would be its best financial year ever, with earnings per share above $7.35 and free cash flow topping $4 billion. Now? EPS is projected at $5.25 to $6.25, with free cash flow trimmed to $3–$4 billion. The optimism may be gone, but so is the
paralysis.
Still, Delta’s second-quarter numbers weren’t half bad. Adjusted earnings per share hit $2.10 on $15.5 billion in revenue, beating estimates by a whisker. Margins dipped slightly and unit revenue fell 3% — but premium ticket sales rose 5% even as main cabin bookings slipped, signaling that the well-heeled are still booking with confidence while everyone else might be scrolling budget travel sites.
Wall Street
liked what it saw. Delta’s shares popped 13% Thursday morning. With earnings from Ford, UPS, and Southwest still on the sidelines, Delta’s move may not reflect a fully cleared forecast, but it might be the start of a broader trend. Corporate America, it seems, is tired of waiting for the all-clear. Delta’s message is simple: The skies may be rough, but they’re flyable. And in 2025, that might be as good as it gets. Quartz’s Catherine Baab has more on how a forecast this grounded still managed to take off.
| | A MESSAGE FROM RAMIT SETHI |  | MASTER YOUR MONEY. LIVE RICH. | Ramit Sethi, a NYT bestselling author and Netflix host, helps millions live their richest lives. Get expert financial insights, strategies, and real-world advice delivered directly to your inbox. | | | MORE FROM QUARTZ | |
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