Price cuts boost Tesla’s 4Q sales

Steep price cuts helped electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc. increase its fourth-quarter vehicle sales by almost 20% as EV sales growth slowed across the industry. The Austin, Texas, company said Tuesday that it sold 484,507 vehicles worldwide from October through December. That handily beat Wall Street estimates of 473,000 for the quarter. For the full year, Tesla said it sold just over 1.8 million vehicles, up 37.7% from 2022 numbers. Full-year sales numbers fell far short of CEO Elon Musk’s prediction of 50% sales growth in most years. But the company did exceed an internal target for the year of 1.8 million vehicle sales.

Buffett, Simons, Knight among top donors

Investment guru Warren Buffett topped The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of the biggest charitable donations in 2023, with his $541.5 million gift to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his first wife, who died in 2004. The 2023 list of gifts from individuals or their foundations totaled more than $3.5 billion and include James Simons and Phil Knight. Four universities received big gifts, along with four scientific research institutes and a health-care system. The other gifts went to a family foundation and a racial justice group. The list has 11 gifts because of ties. Eight of the donors are multibillionaires, and their combined net worth is $305.1 billion.

Wall Street slumps to start 2024

Wall Street started 2024 with a slump, giving back some of its powerful gains from the year before. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% Tuesday. The Dow edged 25 points higher, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.6%. Some of the market’s sharper drops came from stocks that were last year’s biggest winners. Apple had its worst day in nearly five months. Much of Wall Street had been preparing for at least a pause in the rally that had carried the S&P 500 to nine straight winning weeks and the brink of its record. Treasury yields rose to retrace some of their big recent moves.

McKinsey agrees to $78M settlement

Consulting firm McKinsey and Co. has agreed to pay $78 million to settle claims from insurers and health care funds that its marketing work with Purdue Pharma helped fuel an opioid addiction crisis. The agreement was revealed late Friday in documents filed in federal court in San Francisco. The settlement must still be approved by a judge. Under the agreement, McKinsey would establish a fund to reimburse insurers, benefit plans and others for their prescription opioid costs. The insurers argued that McKinsey created aggressive marketing and sales tactics for prescription opioids, forcing it to pay more for them instead of cheaper, less addictive painkillers. McKinsey has denied wrongdoing.

— Bulletin wire reports