Tesla to buy electric battery developer Maxwell Technologies
Tesla announced yesterday that it was going to buy the California-based electric battery developer Maxwell Technologies for $218m in a deal that is expected to complete in the second quarter of this year.
Maxwell already supplies the likes of China’s Geely, Lamborghini and General Motors among others and this deal will certainly enhance Tesla’s existing battery capability. Maxwell’s battery expertise could ultimately help to lower the cost of producing batteries, which would be very useful to Tesla for the short to medium term at least.
I just think that, ultimately, batteries will become commoditised – especially as their range approaches and/or exceeds that of traditional cars – so long term benefit will be limited.
However, until then, better battery technology could help Tesla sales – so I think that this is a solid strategic move.
Netflix changing the broadcasting landscape?
The next thing I wanted to talk about was Netflix and how it looks like changing the whole broadcasting landscape as it is seeking to pour money into local content – which could prove to be bad news for British broadcasters as the UK is Netflix’s most valuable market outside America.
It’s not the only streaming company that’s planning on increasing capex either as the combined spend of Netflix, Amazon, Facebook and Apple over the next three years is thought to be quadruple that of UK broadcasters.
UK broadcasters are currently in talks to cobble together their own streaming service, but this won’t be as easy as it sounds because they actually benefit from Netflix subscribers watching their content as well.
Although it’s difficult to target specific quoted companies that will benefit from this, it does show the continued evolution of how people consume content.
In much the same was that the likes of Google and Facebook muscled into the previously cosy world of advertising, Netflix will start to have more of an impact on traditional broadcasting.
