On July 19th local time, Trump first threatened to withdraw policies that were beneficial to the electric vehicle industry, and then a software bug in the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike caused the largest IT system outage in history. Tesla encountered "Black Friday". Its stock price rebounded slightly on Thursday but then fell back. On Friday, it fell nearly 5% during intraday trading and closed down 4.02% to US$239.2, with a market value of US$762.86 billion.
Tesla’s market value evaporated by US$32 billion overnight, equivalent to RMB 232.6 billion.
According to CCTV News, CCTV reporters learned that on July 19, local time, some applications and services of Microsoft experienced access delays, incomplete functions or inaccessibility. It is reported that the train location information of West Japan Railway Company (JR West) could not be obtained due to a Windows system failure. Australian airlines, banks, government networks, enterprises, supermarket automatic cash registers, etc. were also affected.
According to Jiemian News on July 19, many airlines and airports around the world have faced operational delays due to technical problems, including American Airlines, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Indigo Airlines, and airports in Mumbai, India, Berlin, Germany, and Sydney, Australia.
(Image source: Screenshot from social media)
The workers who were directly affected at the time of the incident were the workers on Thursday night shift at Tesla factories. As equipment in some factories began to report errors, Tesla's super factories in Austin, Texas and Nevada all let some workers go home early. The company then sent a memo on Friday morning informing employees that the company was affected by a "Windows host outage" that caused problems with servers, laptops and manufacturing equipment.
People familiar with the matter said that as of Friday noon, although some production lines in the factory were still running, affected workers had not been notified when production could resume.
The reason behind this problem is not difficult to guess. According to statements released by Microsoft and CrowdStrike, although the problem has been successfully located, in order to restore the computer operation, the IT staff of the affected company needs to "manually restore" each computer. According to the communication of CrowdStrike's technical support team obtained by the media, the affected system may need to be restarted up to 15 times.
Musk, who always hates complicated steps, gave his solution - just delete all CrowdStrike software from all systems. After saying this, he seemed to be not satisfied, and attached an AI-generated picture of "CrowdStrike computer room on fire".
Image source: Social Media X Platform
Because the impact of this incident was so severe, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was forced to come out and "give an explanation." In a simple statement, Nadella said Microsoft is working closely with CrowdStrike to provide technical support to affected customers.
Musk responded mercilessly, saying that what you have done has had an impact on the automotive supply chain. After announcing the "deletion of all CrowdStrike software," Musk also said: "Unfortunately, Tesla has many suppliers and logistics companies using that company's software."
Image source: Social Media X Platform
In addition to venting his anger, Musk also frequently reposted posts to guide netizens to think more - the mistake of a single software company can paralyze the information infrastructure of so many countries around the world. Is there something wrong with this state of market share concentration?
Image source: Social Media X Platform
Another noteworthy news is that on Thursday evening, July 18, Eastern Time, former US President Trump formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination and delivered a speech to elaborate on his policy proposals. In Trump's speech, some media noticed the negative news he conveyed about electric vehicles.
According to Xinhua News Agency, Trump promised in his speech that if he returns to the White House, he will promote a new round of tax cuts, strengthen border security, and achieve dominance of traditional energy. He vowed that if he is elected president, he will end Biden's electric vehicle policy on "the first day of his presidency", revive the domestic auto manufacturing industry in the United States, and threaten to impose high tariffs on imported cars. He also said that he would strengthen oil and gas drilling in the United States and abandon the Biden administration's new energy policy.
Other electric vehicle stocks also fell on Friday. Rivian, which had fallen nearly 3% during the day, closed down about 0.9%, Lucid, which fell more than 3% during the day, closed down nearly 2%, Workhorse closed down 11.6%, ChargePoint and EVgo, which operate electric vehicle charging networks, fell nearly 8% and more than 6% during the day, and closed down 4.6% and nearly 2.5%, respectively. Among the new Chinese car-making forces listed in the United States, by the close of trading, Zeekr fell more than 3%, Ideal Auto fell more than 2%, and NIO fell more than 1%, while Xpeng Motors, which fell nearly 3% on Thursday, rebounded nearly 0.4%.
Tesla's stock price has previously benefited from CEO Musk's support for Trump. Some analysts said Musk's support for Trump also contributed to the rise in Tesla's stock price. Trump has been critical of electric vehicles in the past, and Musk's support may help Tesla gain more recognition among conservative groups. Recent polls show that about two-thirds of conservative voters would not consider buying an electric car, while about two-thirds of liberal voters would do so.
Daily Economic News integrates CCTV news, Xinhua News Agency, Jiemian News, and public information
Disclaimer: The content and data in this article are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice. Please verify before use. You will be responsible for your own risks if you act accordingly.
