FB Roundup Elon Musk, Teddy Sagi, Ali Al Maktoum

Shares in Elon Musk’s Tesla continue to swing

Shares in Tesla were hit badly after much weaker-than-expected second-quarter results, though they have swung back after analysts responded favourably to the electric vehicle manufacturer’s vision for self-driving vehicles. 

Sales at the company which is owned by Elon Musk rose 2% to $25.5 billion in the April to June quarter. This was ahead of market expectations of revenues of $24.8 billion. But the problem remains profits. They dropped for the fourth quarter in a row slumping 45% to $1.5 billion.

In a press release, the company blamed a whole raft of factors including reduced average selling prices, restructuring charges and an increase in operating expenses largely driven by AI projects among others. 

After the results, the company’s share price was hit. It closed down just over 2% and then fell a further 7.8% in after-market trading. This is on top of an 8% drop in the past year. 

But despite the post-results sell-off, Tesla's shares have bounced back after analysts responded favourably to the company's outlook. 

Adam Jonas, automotives analyst at Morgan Stanley, made Tesla his top sector pick, looked positively on the manufacturer’s emphasis on artificial intelligence, and led with a significant price target of $310. This suggests that he sees a further 35% growth in the share price. 

Similarly, Stephen Gengaro, analyst at Stifel, has a "buy" rating, reckons that profit margins will calm down and again highlights the emphasis on AI. And Alexander Potter at Piper Sandler is even more explicit in his approach saying that Tesla might have “solved the self-driving puzzle”. 

Teddy Sagi takes acquisition of ITG to the High Court

Israeli entrepreneur Teddy Sagi has taken online gambling entrepreneur Simon Wilson to court claiming that he was tricked into acquiring In Touch Games (ITG) for £53 million ($68 million) in April 2022. 

The case has been brought by Sagi’s Gibraltar-based online gambling company Skywind. Wilson denies all of the charges. 

Sagi says that despite attracting the interest of Britain's gambling regulator – the Gaming Commission – in 2017 and then a forced £2.2 million settlement followed by another £3.4 million fine in 2021, the company had not cleaned up its act. 

Central to the case is the audit of ITG conducted by risk management and consultancy group RSM UK. The company passed the audit with flying colours, and this is what Sagi’s Skywind is contesting. 

ITG was hit with another £6.1 million fine in January 2023 and the company’s license to operate in the UK was suspended. 

According to Forbes, Teddy Sagi is worth an estimated $6.4 billion. 

He founded Playtech in Estonia in 1999. He initially sold a 12% slice of the gambling software developer for $400 million in 2016 with the remainder sold for $88 million in November 2018. Altogether, he has taken four companies public on London's AIM market: Playtech, Market Tech (now Labtech London), online payments processor SafeCharge and cybersecurity company Kape.

Much of his attention now is taken up with his property portfolio in London which includes Campden Market. 

Ali Al Maktoum presses pause on Hong Kong office

Sheikh Ali Rashed Ali Saeed Al Maktoum has said that he will not open up a $500 million family office in Hong Kong for the foreseeable future. 

“The family office of Sheikh Ali Al Maktoum will not be opening a branch nor a representation office in Hong Kong in the foreseeable future,” the protocol unit of the Sheikh’s office told the South China Morning Post. 

The ins and outs of the story have gripped Hong Kong over the past few months and have been compared, more than once, to a K-drama – a Korean soap opera. 

The prince initially mooted his $500 million plan to open a Hong Kong office to look for investment opportunities in the Asia region in an interview with Bloomberg in March. He even visited Hong Kong that month to attend a government-organised summit. 

Al Maktoum then surprised the city when he said that the opening had been postponed because of unspecified “urgent matters” in Dubai. 

Questions continued to circle in May after the prince’s office issued a clarification regarding statements made by Eleanor Jane Mak, chief executive of the family’s operations in Hong Kong.

She “does not have any power of representation” for the prince and holds “no charges in the Sheikh’s companies,” it said. 

Following this, the Sheikh’s website was taken down as well as signs marking where its office would be in the city.