Tesla is talking to music labels about licensing a proprietary music service to bundle with its cars, Recode reports.
Why? It's unclear. Trying to create a new streaming service is a counter-intuitive effort for the carmaker, which is under pressure to meet its ambitious production schedule and already has a music deal with Spotify for Teslas sold outside the U.S.
But music labels are entertaining the talks, Recode says. They are happy to help a potential competitor to leading streaming services Spotify and Apple. Tesla, meanwhile, says its "goal is to simply achieve maximum happiness for our customers."
Richard Branson was in San Francisco Wednesday as part of a relaunch of Sprint's Virgin Mobile brand. After the event, he spoke with me on a range of topics, from his views on technology and President Trump to where he wants the Virgin Brand to go next. Below is an edited transcript of our conversation.
Reuters reports a bizarre story today that details how Mylan, the pharmaceutical company that has been lambasted for drastically raising prices of EpiPens, also earns a decent chunk of money from...coal operations.
Why Mylan invests in refined coal: Tax credits. The coal operations lose money, but Mylan is able to claim hefty clean energy tax credits. In 2016 alone, that gave Mylan "an effective tax rate of negative 294 percent" and boosted earnings by at least $40 million, Reuters reports. Mylan already enjoys a low corporate tax rate after it parked its headquarters in the Netherlands in 2015.
Why it matters: It's another instance of financial engineering that hangs over Mylan, which will face angry investors at its shareholder meeting tomorrow.
