Category: Blog

Tesla made a $140m (£113.5m) loss on its Bitcoin investments in 2022, according to filings.

The electric car maker told the US regulator it lost $204m on Bitcoin overall, though it gained back $64m through trading.

Tesla put $1.5bn into Bitcoin in early 2021, with chief executive Elon Musk saying it would be accepted as payment.

It changed course a few weeks later, and Tesla has since sold most of its Bitcoin holdings.

It now holds about $184m of Bitcoin.

Mr Musk has been among the most high-profile champions of cryptocurrency, with his pronouncements on social media often driving significant trading activity.

Tesla’s February 2021 Bitcoin purchase caused the cryptocurrency to rise in price by more than 25% to $48,000 – a record high at the time.

It rose again in March 2021, when Mr Musk tweeted Tesla would allow customers to make their car purchases using Bitcoin. This enabled people in the US to secure orders with the equivalent of a $100 deposit in Bitcoin.

But the cryptocurrency subsequently fell by more than 10% two months later, when the firm backpedaled on this plan, citing climate change concerns.

According to the UK Treasury, Bitcoin’s global annual energy consumption is estimated to be roughly 39% of the UK’s – and some estimates put the cryptocurrency’s even higher.

Its price soared to almost $70,000 in November 2022 before crashing by more than 50% when Tesla decided to offload most of its holdings.

Sportswear chain JD Sports has said stored data relating to 10 million customers might be at risk after it was hit by a cyber-attack.

The company said information that “may have been accessed” by hackers included names, addresses, email accounts, phone numbers, order details and the final four digits of bank cards.

The data related to online orders between November 2018 and October 2020. 

JD Sports said it was contacting affected customers.

The group said the affected data was “limited”. It added it did not hold full payment card details and did not believe that account passwords were accessed by the hackers.

“We want to apologise to those customers who may have been affected by this incident,” said Neil Greenhalgh, chief financial officer of JD Sports. “Protecting the data of our customers is an absolute priority for JD.”

The attack related to online orders placed for the JD, Size?, Millets, Blacks, Scotts and MilletSport brands and it is understood it was detected by the company in recent days, but only the historical data was accessed.

The company said it was working with “leading cyber-security experts” and was engaging with the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in response to the incident.

Mr Greenhalgh said affected customers were being advised “to be vigilant about potential scam e-mails, calls and texts”.

Cyber-attacks have hit several UK companies in recent times. Royal Mail became the victim of a ransomware attack earlier this month which led to it halting post and parcel deliveries overseas.

In December, the Guardian newspaper was also targeted by a suspected ransomware attack.

Lauren Wills-Dixon, solicitor and an expert in data privacy at law firm Gordons, said retailers were among the most common targets for cyber-attacks because of the large amounts of customer data they hold, and said firms needed to do more to plan for them.

But she said the increased use of technology by the industry “to reduce overheads and streamline operations has raised the risk even further”. 

“In this new world, it’s not ‘if’ but ‘when’ a cyber-attack will happen,” she said. 

A spokeswoman for the ICO confirmed it was aware of the attack and that it was assessing information provided by JD Sports. 

Scott Nicholson, co-chief executive of cyber security company Bridewell, said it was seeing a rise in malicious software, known as “malware” being used by criminals to steal information from companies.

“It is good to see JD Sports stating that they are working with experts to help from a containment and recovery perspective, but once the dust has settled their comments of ‘we take the protection of customer data extremely seriously’ will be put to the test by the ICO,” he added.

Dr. Phil, the US talkshow that saw Dr Phil McGraw divvy out life advice to individuals and which became a regular on daytime television around the world, is set to end later this year after 21 seasons.

Hosted by McGraw since 2002, the show saw him advise guests who were troubled by problems, often to do with their finances, weight, families, addictions and marriages.

“I have been blessed with over 25 wonderful years in daytime television,” McGraw said in a statement. “With this show, we have helped thousands of guests and millions of viewers through everything from addiction and marriage to mental wellness and raising children. This has been an incredible chapter of my life and career, but while I’m moving on from daytime, there is so much more I wish to do.”

CBS sources told Variety that McGraw made the call to end production on the show, which airs five days a week in the US.

McGraw, 72, first became known after appearing as a guest speaker on Oprah Winfrey’s talkshow in the 1990s and was soon famous for his folksy, straight-shooting advice. Dr Phil was initially produced by Winfrey’s Harpo Productions.

While McGraw holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, he stopped renewing his licence to practise in 2006.

The show’s use of psychology as entertainment was often controversial, with some criticising its treatment of mentally ill and vulnerable guests. In 2004, when McGraw likened a nine-year-old boy to a serial killer, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill wrote to CBS saying “Dr. Phil’s conduct is serious enough to warrant investigation by a relevant board of licensure.” A spokesperson for McGraw said the letter was “based on lack of information and inaccurate, inappropriate assumptions”.

The US military commitment to the Pacific was underlined in a White House meeting between the leaders of the US and Japan. But behind the scenes, this renewed focus on Asia has sparked a fierce debate within one of its most fabled military forces, writes defense analyst Jonathan Marcus.

A bitter family row has erupted in one of the US military’s most hallowed institutions, the US Marine Corps.

A host of its former senior commanders are lining up to attack the current leadership over plans for its reinvention.

At issue is a plan to adapt the service for a potential conflict against China – a plan dubbed Force Design 2030. Almost from its inception, this plan has been under attack with a cohort of retired generals taking the unusual approach of going to the press to air their frustrations.

Retired senior officers have been meeting regularly; speaking at seminars and think tanks; and devising their own alternatives to a plan which they see as a disaster for the Marine Corps future. 

One prominent critic is the former US Navy Secretary and former Senator for Virginia, Jim Webb, who served as a Marine officer in the Vietnam War and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2015.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he described Force Design 2030 as “insufficiently tested” and “intrinsically flawed”. He warned that the plan “raised serious questions about the wisdom and long-term risk of dramatic reductions in force structure, weapons systems, and manpower levels in units that would take steady casualties in most combat scenarios”.

So what has got them all so upset? 

Launched in 2020 by Marine Corps Commandant General David H Berger, the plan is intended to equip the Marines for a potential conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific region rather than counter-insurgency wars like Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new plan sees the Marines as fighting dispersed operations across chains of islands. Units will be smaller, and more spread out but packing a much bigger punch through a variety of new weapons systems. Huge amphibious landings like in World War Two or massive deployments on land – like in Iraq – will probably be things of the past.