Wednesday newspaper round-up: Tesla, British Gas, steelmakers
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Wednesday 19 Mar 2025
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk's vast stake in Tesla is no longer his most valuable asset as the electric car company continues to endure a sharp stock market sell-off. Musk's stake in SpaceX, his private rockets and satellites business, is now the billionaire tycoon's largest asset for the first time in five years, according to Forbes, which still pegs his net worth at $323bn - more than anyone else in the world. - Guardian
The government risks "disappointing voters" hoping for cheaper energy bills in the next decade if it cuts the £8.3bn budget for GB Energy, a thinktank has warned. Researchers at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that the publicly owned energy company - set up by Labour to drive renewable energy and cut household bills - will need to be fully funded if it hopes to build enough clean energy projects to meet 5% of the country's electricity needs by the 2030s. - Guardian
Chris O'Shea, the chief executive of British Gas, is set to receive a 29pc pay boost to his basic salary - taking his fixed pay above £1m as households brace for higher bills. The pay increase, which comes into force on April 1, will arrive on the same day that energy price rises take average consumer energy bills to £1,849 a year. Centrica, which owns British Gas, said Mr O'Shea was underpaid on his current salary of £855,000 compared with other FTSE 100 chief executives. He will now be paid £1.1m to take into account the company's growth and complexity. - Telegraph
Britain faces years of industrial decline and falling factory employment as high energy prices blamed on net zero undermine the manufacturing sector. EY Item Club said Britain's manufacturing sector was on track for three years of falling employment in the face of energy costs that are four times as high as those in the US, and 50pc more than those paid by factories in France and Germany. Factory output is also expected to shrink by 0.6pc this year, the influential forecaster predicted. - Telegraph
Britain's two largest steelmakers have warned that President Trump's tariffs are already leading to a loss of business from American customers. Tata Steel, based at Port Talbot, and British Steel, which runs the Scunthorpe steelworks, also raised concerns at potentially more dangerous collateral damage from trade barriers as large volumes of steel on the global market, once bound for America, could now swamp the UK. - The Times
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