With its new pop-up stores, its takeover of Whole Foods and its new interest in healthcare, it seems like Amazon is staging a massive takeover of unsuspecting industries left and right.

Teaming up with JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathaway as well as acquiring digital pharmacy startup PillPack are all part of Amazon’s expansion into various areas of the healthcare space.

Its bold move into healthcare begs the question what’s next? Does it have a strategic step-by-step business plan underway to flesh out its recent conquests?

Bernstein analysts in a report this week predict that Amazon’s next moves will include directly entering the online pharmacy space; focusing on value-based care and population health management through its joint healthcare venture with JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathaway; and using Alexa to encourage consumer engagement and behavior modifications in digital health.

Analysts think that Amazon’s next steps with PillPack will be to to improve user experience, scale up the operation, and get coverage from more health plans, including Medicaid coverage. Although Amazon and PillPack are expected to operate somewhat separately in the beginning, it’s expected that the e-commerce giant will at some point integrate PillPack into its current delivery model. Amazon is also likely to integrate Prime memberships into the online pharmacy. Analysts predict that by 2027, Amazon’s online pharmacy will take up 12% of the total market, and will dole out over 900 million prescriptions.

Bernstein said this shift in market share would “be most negative for small and independent pharmacies that lack scale and volume.” It added that major impacts are predicted to start beginning in 2024, and could put independent pharmacies out of business in the long run.

From the note:

We expect online pharmacies to impact store level economics for all pharmacies that will ultimately result in small and independent pharmacies going out of business in the long run. We see this rate of shift as causing major impacts to independent pharmacies beginning in 2024, where Amazon hits 5+% market share. At this point total online shift could be nearing 10%, which we see as being problematic for independents to withstand given fixed cost component of independents. We see limited strategic response options for small pharmacies.

For the joint healthcare venture with JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathaway, analysts think that the main focus will be on helping large self-insured employers lower costs in their systems. As a part of this, they see a change towards more value-based reimbursements. The venture will also likely be a tool to measure population health, educate consumers and instigate a shift towards preventative care including incentivizing behavior modifications.

Amazon might also wade into the digital health space by using its delivery service to distribute products to consumers as well as nurses and physicians, expanding Alexa’s functions to cover telemedicine, and use the collected data to assess population health and improve price transparency for drugs and services across the board.

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The first thing you need to know about “1999,” the new collaboration between Charli XCX and Troye Sivan, is that it’s not a Prince cover. The second you need to know is that it’s a positively nostalgic bop.

While the Purple One was concerned with the future, Charli’s caffeinated-as-always vocals are a touch wistful for the past. She sings, “Wishing we could go back in time / Maybe we could do it tonight, tonight, tonight” and pinpoints the final year of the 20th century as the preferred destination.

This all begs the question, what exactly would one do if she found herself dropped back near the end of the first Clinton term? (Charli grew up in Essex, and Troye in Perth, so the Clinton reference point isn’t as fitting, but whatever.) The song’s escapist lyrics mention some specific cultural hallmarks of the time — blasting Slim Shady and Britney Spears — but also simply indulging in what being young has to offer, like “playin’ air guitar on the roof.”

“I know those days are over but a boy can fantasize / About JTT on MTV and when I close my eyes,” Sivan sings on the bridge, shouting out ’90s teen heartthrob Jonathan Taylor Thomas. The single’s cover art also finds Troye and Charli decked out in shiny Matrix leather like Trinity and Neo, a look that never quite went away or maybe did but is now back, for good?

“1999” marks the second prominent time-machine pop song this year, after Anne-Marie’s early-aughts patchwork “2002.” Both songs shout out “…Baby One More Time” specifically, too, though “2002” expands its scope and uses songs from many other years as reference points. The madcap “1999” is absolutely classic Charli, a celebration of pop that fuses elements of the era she’s shouting out while also somehow sounding like a roadmap to pop’s effervescent future.

I can only hope we’ll soon get a video that’s as incredibly studied in its approach to the late ’90s as that cover art. I mean, look at that font! Not since Beerbongs & Bentleys has an album cover evoked such particular late-’90s shopping-mall music shop feels.

Until we get a proper visual though, you can listen to the whole thing above. And dance.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake voted Friday to advance Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court to a final Senate vote on Saturday, later telling reporters he would support confirmation unless something significant changes.

Flake’s support in a preliminary, procedural vote keeps Kavanaugh on track for a fateful vote on his nomination. The Senate voted to move to a final vote by a 51-49 vote Friday that included support from only one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

Flake, R-Arizona, was one of the last hurdles in Kavanaugh’s path to the high court after allegations of sexual assault decades ago created sudden drama over a confirmation that once seemed inevitable.

Flake had not indicated how he plans to vote on Kavanaugh, but after the procedural vote did signal his intent to vote yes on the nomination “unless something big changes.”

Another key holdout, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she would spell out how she plans to vote for Kavanaugh’s confirmation later Friday.

Flake’s friend, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, said Flake discussed the matter with him Friday morning and at least heard Coons’ main points.

Coons told reporters that Flake at that point had not indicated how he will vote on the nomination.

“I did not press. He did not say,” Coons said. “I don’t think that’s appropriate. We’re senators. We each reach our own decisions. We had a positive and I think constructive conversation. He gave me an opportunity to make a few points I was eager to make.

“It was important to me all along that regardless of how this week ended that we stay in regular communication and that we respect each other and respect the differences in our views,” Coons continued. “Look, Senator Flake is a conservative. He wants a conservative for the Supreme Court. He would support a conservative nominee. I’m not, and typically do not. It’s important to remember we came into this with different views.”

MORE:  Republic poll: Half of Arizonans support putting Kavanaugh on court

Republicans can afford only one defection before needing help from Democrats to approve the nomination. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska already is opposing Kavanaugh.

U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, has long maintained his support for Kavanaugh.

While Flake’s comments suggest support, things do sometimes change in short order.

A week ago, Flake said he planned to confirm Kavanaugh, but that was before he helped force a quick FBI investigation of the allegations against the judge.

Flake has frequently found himself at the center of Kavanaugh’s bitterly contested nomination, which will long be remembered for allegations of a decades-old sexual assault and Kavanaugh’s raw, angry denials.

RELATED:  What happens if Flake, other GOP senators oppose Kavanaugh?

Kavanaugh, currently a federal appeals court judge, could cement the high court’s conservative outlook, perhaps for decades to come.

His July nomination initially appeared to be a little more than an unpleasant formality for Democrats.

That changed when California college professor Christine Blasey Ford came forward with allegations that Kavanaugh groped her and tried to remove her clothes in the summer of 1982, when she was 15 and he was 17.

Flake helped slow the nomination when he said he wasn’t comfortable proceeding without hearing from Blasey Ford.

By the time the Senate Judiciary Committee held that hearing last week, Flake said in nationally televised remarks in the Senate that he and both people in the matter had received death threats.

Flake didn’t ask Blasey Ford or Kavanaugh any questions at the hearing and ended the spectacle with the prediction that no one would draw much comfort from what had unfolded in front of a spellbound nation.

The next morning Flake announced his support for Kavanaugh. On his way to a hearing to send Kavanaugh’s nomination to the full Senate, two women confronted him in an elevator in another nationally watched moment.

One of them said she was a victim of sexual assault and demanded Flake explain what his support for Kavanaugh meant for women like her.

Flake again commanded national attention at the hearing passing Kavanaugh to the full Senate.

He left the hearing for extended talks with Senate Democrats, in particular with Coons. When Flake returned, he announced he would send Kavanaugh’s to the Senate, but wanted a short FBI investigation into the allegations.

He got one, though partisan bickering over the probe’s scope and duration quickly overshadowed it.

On Thursday, Flake hinted his support to come, telling reporters the investigation had not produced any additional corroboration of Blasey Ford’s allegations.

Eliza Collins of USA TODAY contributed to this article.

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Republican Senator Steve Daines said he plans to attend his daughter’s wedding in Montana on Saturday, the same day the Senate may vote to confirm nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Daines said he will walk his daughter down the aisle for her wedding. He also predicted there would be a new Supreme Court justice. (Daines has supported Kavanaugh throughout the process.)

In an interview with CNN, Daines said GOP leaders may hold open the confirmation vote overnight to allow him to return from Montana to Washington to vote.

“We’re taking it a day at a time to see what happens,” Daines told CNN. 

A procedural vote on Kavanaugh is expected to start Friday at 10:30 a.m. ET. If it passes, the Senate could cast their final vote to confirm Kavanaugh as early as Saturday.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

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The US Senate has voted 51-49 in favor of invoking cloture on the confirmation of the embattled Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, meaning the final floor vote on his confirmation could occur as soon as Saturday night after no more than 30 hours of floor debate.

Heading into the vote, all eyes were on crucial undecided votes of Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. While Collins and Manchin voted to proceed on Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Murkowksi, to the surprise of many, broke with her party and voted not to proceed on his confirmation.

While this vote to invoke cloture means Kavanaugh is guaranteed a floor vote on his confirmation, it’s still unclear how certain senators will vote; some who voted to advance his nomination could still vote against his confirmation. Kavanaugh’s nomination has been tainted by two allegations of sexual misconduct against him from the early 1980s, culminating in emotional testimony from him and one of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, on September 27.

One possible wrinkle in the final vote is that Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, a Republican, will be away from Capitol Hill on Saturday to walk his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.

If Republicans are unsure they will be able to reach the 50-vote threshold for Kavanaugh’s confirmation without Daines, they could attempt to delay the final floor vote until Sunday.

Did you notice a few fins poking out of the water? Don’t be alarmed — those are just some sharks who smell fresh money in the water.

Branded as the “Decade of Dreams,” season 10 of Shark Tank is about to surface, and this batch of episodes boasts “big surprises and shocking outcomes that leave the Sharks’ mouths agape,” promises showrunner Clay Newbill. “I think it’s our best season to date — we have amazing and ingenious ideas that will help people simplify their lives, and a few wacky ideas that will have people scratching their heads, frankly.”

In addition, several new guest Sharks will enter the room, the show’s most romantic moment to date will unfold, and a few entrepreneurs will even try to persuade the panel that they can lucratively rehab the image of bats. Before Shark Tank begins season 10 on Sunday with its 200th episode (10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC), allow Newbill to pitch you the highlights.

Charles Barkley hits nothing but net worth
The NBA legend and TNT talking head shows off his entrepreneurial skills as a guest Shark — and the filter-free Barkley brings his swagger from the court right into the business world. “What makes him great for Shark Tank is he’s willing to say exactly what he and everyone watching is thinking,” says Newbill. “He’s very colorful and hilarious. The most unforgettable moment is his take on a male-grooming company for the nether regions. The other Sharks about fell out of their chairs.” Barkley puts some bit behind that bark, though; he committed to investing $1 million in female entrepreneurs this year, reports Newbill. “He takes his investing and his opportunity to join the Sharks very seriously,” he says. “He had some funny comments like you would expect from Charles, but also he made some very smart comments that maybe other sharks weren’t seeing.”

Speaking of guest Sharks, Ring founder Jamie Siminoff (who did not land a deal when he pitched on the Tank years ago) is back as an investor, and the show also will put Miami Dolphins exec Matt Higgins in a seed-money seat. Returning guest investors include Sarah Blakely, Bethenny Frankel, Rohan Oza, and Alex Rodriguez, and for the first time ever, two guest Sharks will sit on the same panel, with colorful results. “Bethenny took on Rohan and Lori [Grenier] for a company that has a kids’-meal-delivery business led by a really impressive husband-and-wife team,” says Newbill. “It went back and forth many rounds. I don‘t want to reveal the outcome, but I’ll say it was surprising.”

Brace for true commitment during one pitch
Two more-than-business partners leave the Tank in a different situation than they entered it. “When the pitch was over, the male entrepreneur took a knee and proposed,” reveals Newbill. “You could just tell that these two people were made for each other.… They were pitching, oddly enough, engagement rings.” What percentage of their wedding gifts will Mr. Wonderful get?

And look forward to the show’s first female-majority panel
In November, which is Female Entrepreneurship Month, you’ll see Grenier, Blakely, and Barbara Corcoran sit together on the panel. “We have some great, really impressive women entrepreneurs this season,” says Newbill. “There’s one woman who came through — she quit her job, had an idea, bootstrapped her entire operation, starting a kombucha-at-home kit with less than $1,000, and the company’s really fantastic now.”

There will be an utterly Wonderful deal that doesn’t involve Mr. Wonderful
One entrepreneur will strike a deal with a Shark who clearly has been taking notes on Kevin O’Leary’s royally shrewd strategies. “There was a deal made this season where the offer initially was made and then during the negotiation, the Shark changed it to a deal [in which] the full amount of money was being made as a loan with interest,” says Newbill. “And then on top of that, they got a royalty. And on top of that, they got some equity. It was business that there was a lot of risk involved, and this particular Shark was balancing that risk.”

Another deal will hook all the Sharks — and their charitable instincts
In one deal, “all five of the Sharks are impressed and go into together,” reports Newbill. “As part of the deal, they say that they’re going to take whatever profits they have from the deal and they’re going to donate it to charity.”

A few teenagers may find out that it pays to be positive
Minors will make major impressions again this season. “We have a group of teen girls that have created a new social media site for teens that only allows positive messaging,” says Newbill. “No bullying, no troll intimidation. Made for teens, by teens.”

One pitch will have the Sharks swimming in tears
Shark Tank is all in on an emotional pitch that taxes the tear ducts, but “I don’t think we’ve ever had one where all the Sharks were tearing up and the entrepreneurs weren’t,” says Newbill of three children who seek a deal for their late father’s product. “His dream was to pitch on Shark Tank, but he passed away from cancer, so they’re carrying out his legacy by pitching for him. It’s a great product and obviously a heartbreaker to watch. It’s amazing how strong these kids are after losing their father.”

Some see big profits in being zitpicky, others in being batty
“We have a product that satisfies the unique pimple-popping obsession,” says Newbill. “It’s actually ingenious, and they’ve got incredible sales, so there is a desire out there for this thing. We learned after these people applied that there are a lot of videos online of the thing — not the product, actual people doing this. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone that’s squeamish.”

There are also a couple entrepreneurs that aim to change “the negative PR around bats — flying bats — with their designer bat houses used to host bats on your property to combat disease-carrying mosquitos and other insects,” says Newbill. A designer bat house? To reference the other kind of bat, this sounds like a big swing.

While several inventors get clever, others may be dogging it
Expect to see some smart inventions — one product senses when you have a leak in a pipe and alerts you; another serves an emergency spare battery for an electric car — but also what might be called a fashion faux paw: a onesie for dogs of multiple sizes. “You might ask yourself: Why does a dog need to be wearing a onesie?” says Newbill. “The functionality of it is that it catches all the hair and dander that a shedding dog will put all over your clothes or your furniture. And this is the bonus — the guys that created it got a lot of feedback from vets that said it also helps dogs who suffer from anxiety attacks. It’s like a swaddling a baby. The dogs feel hugged.” How does the poor dog go to the bathroom? “They have an answer,” continues Newbill. “They’re like, ‘Well, we’ve got a zipper.’” And we’re guessing that most Sharks have got one thing to say to that: “I’m out.”

Here’s a new way to tell off telemarketers
Any interest in a telephone answering service? Wait, don’t hang up yet. This one “seeks to get revenge on telemarketers by wasting their time using numbers and human-like robots to keep them on the line,” says Newbill. “I’m telling you, it’s brilliant. It’s a guy who has been working in the telephone industry his entire life and had a bad experience with a telemarketer speaking with one of his children. [He] decided enough is enough — and has the knowledge and he figured the way to take on telemarketers down is to eat up their time. The longer he can keep them on the line, the less calls they’ll be able to make to disturb other people.” If this guy doesn’t score a deal, he should at least be in the running for a National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

After the premiere, Shark Tank will air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

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Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court shined a spotlight on how the Senate works, but the debate is steeped in unfamiliar terms: filibuster, cloture, unanimous consent.

Here is a guide to simplify what some of these terms mean and how they apply.

FILIBUSTER: Senate debate is typically unlimited until senators unanimously agreed to end the chit-chat on a bill or a nomination, or until they vote to end debate. The origin of the term is somewhat disputed, but the official Senate history says it stems from a Dutch term for “pirate.”

The most dramatic way this plays out is if a lone senator stands on the floor speaking until overcome with exhaustion, as was portrayed in the Frank Capra movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

This still happens occasionally. And the words don’t matter. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, read from “Green Eggs and Ham” during a 21-hour marathon in September 2013 against President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul. The filibuster record was held by the late Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

But such episodes are rare. More common is that senators threaten a filibuster and a vote is held to end debate. 

 

CLOTURE: When the Senate votes to limit debate, it’s called invoking cloture. The parliamentary move under Senate Rule XXII is somewhat counter-intuitive because ending debate sounds bad for a bill or a nomination.

But invoking cloture is what schedules a final vote on a bill or nomination. Failing to invoke cloture means the debate keeps running endlessly.

In 1975, the Senate agreed to reduce the number of votes required for cloture from 67 to 60 out of 100 senators. Despite making it easier to end debate, use of the filibuster has remained contentious. President Donald Trump and others have complained about the lack of action in the Senate – because a minority can prevent action on a specific bill or nomination.

Given this frustration, Senate Democrats agreed in November 2013 to change the rule to require a simple majority to invoke cloture when debating nominations to the executive branch or the judges other than for the Supreme Court. This unblocked a logjam of dozens of waiting nominees.

Senate Republicans then extended the change in April 2017 to the Supreme Court. This is why Kavanaugh’s supporters needed just a 51-49 vote Friday to end the debate.

UNANIMOUS CONSENT: The Senate can always agree to take action or ignore a rule by unanimous consent. Nearly everything done in the Senate is by unanimous consent, whether deciding what time to convene the next day or deciding which bill to debate. It’s not always obvious, but the floor leader must ask for unanimous consent, or UC, to move to each order of business.

The term might come up now that the Senate voted to limit debate on Kavanaugh’s nomination. After invoking cloture, the Senate will have up to 30 hours to debate before a final vote. But senators could agree by unanimous consent not to use all that time. This could allow a vote late Friday or early Saturday, rather than waiting the full 30 hours after the 10:30 a.m. vote.

More: Brett Kavanaugh confirmation: When will the Senate vote and how long will it take?

More: Timeline: Brett Kavanaugh nomination heads to crucial Senate vote Friday

More: Amy Schumer, Emily Ratajkowski arrested while protesting Kavanaugh

 

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WASHINGTON – Protesters against Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court persisted Friday in keeping up public pressure to denounce the embattled judge, a day after arrests that included comedian Amy Schumer and model Emily Ratajkowski.

Bitterly divided senators on Friday morning voted 51-49 to advance Kavanaugh’s nomination, setting up a final vote as soon as this weekend. Attention remained tightly focused on a small number of senators considered key: Republicans Jeff Flake of Arizona, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Murkowski on Friday morning was the only one of those four to vote against the procedural move setting up the final vote.

About a dozen protesters gathered in Collins’ office during the morning cloture vote, hoping to get her to “no.” Collins plans to announce her Kavanaugh decision this afternoon. 

“We’re just really trying to keep up a presence here,” said Tatiana Seryan, 41, who is from New York City but has protested in Washington, D.C. for more than a month. “I’m hoping she’ll do the right thing. I think the next step will be left to the American people and the rage that they feel.” 

Collins’ yes on cloture hasn’t necessarily damaged the hopes of protesters: Former Sen. John McCain voted in favor of cloture on last year’s Affordable Care Act repeal but ultimately voted against the bill.

Protester Indriani Demers, 68, of Portland, Maine, said Collins has already lost her vote, but wanted to pressure her senator. 

“I have to come here because I have to convince her,” Demers said in an interview. “I have a daughter. I don’t want her to feel uncomfortable in reporting or be blamed for a rape that a man has done.”

Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris urged voters to keep the pressure on. “There are now 30 hours until a final vote on Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Don’t stop calling your senators and telling them to vote NO. Keep up the fight,” she said on Twitter.

While protesters from Maine, Alaska, Arizona and West Virginia wait for the final outcome, some visitors from North Dakota were thrilled their senator, Heidi Heitkamp — who faces a competitive re-election race — announced that she would vote no to confirm Kavanaugh.

More: GOP releases summary of FBI report on Kavanaugh: ‘No corroboration of the allegations’

Friday morning outside the Capitol, a group of protesters unfurled an enormous banner reading “#StopKavanaugh.” President Donald Trump said the protesters were being paid to be there, citing as evidence signs that looked too professional.

“I think we’ve regressed,” said Michelle Garvin, 62, of Crescent City, California. “And when I watch that, it’s like, maybe I’m going to come here and nothing will change, but they’ve got to know that people still care.”

Garvin remembers watching the Anita Hill hearings in 1991, and she’s not sure if the country has progressed since then. But Garvin felt obligated to protest on behalf of her kids and grandchildren. Hill in 1991 accused her then-boss, Clarence Thomas, of sexual harassment during his confirmation hearings to the Supreme Court. 

“I brought them into this world,” Garvin said of her family. “If I didn’t do anything I wouldn’t even be able to look them in the eyes.”

A few dozen protesters on Friday had also gathered in the Hart Senate Office Building, where more than 300 protesters were arrested Thursday. Police patrolled the atrium armed with the plastic handcuffs they typically use in mass arrests.

More: Brett Kavanaugh says he regrets ‘sharp’ tone during Senate hearing, promises to be ‘impartial’

Schumer and Ratajkowski were unapologetic about their arrests. Ratajkowski said via Twitter that she felt Senate advancement of Kavanaugh’s nomination signaled the women don’t matter.

“I was arrested protesting the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, a man who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault,” the model posted Thursday, along with a picture of her marching with a group of women in front of the Capitol. She carried a sign that said “Respect Female Existence or Expect Our Resistance.”

Kari Kerr, 47, and Laura Frisch, 44, both traveled from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to lobby Heitkamp, and were thrilled when she later announced her opposition.

“We knew that she was facing a very hard battle for her seat,” Kerr said Friday. “Her decision to say no… it wasn’t taken lightly.” Both plan to vote for Heitkamp in November.

While much of the attention has focused on the three Republicans, Democrat Manchin could also prove critical: He hails from a state President Donald Trump won in 2016, and faces a tough re-election bid in the midterms. If two of the undecided Republican senators were to vote against Kavanaugh, but Manchin voted for him, that would also result in a tie and give the deciding vote to Vice President Mike Pence.

Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines will attend his daughter’s wedding Saturday, which makes getting enough votes harder for Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., could decide to delay the vote past Saturday if he believes he needs Daines’ vote.

Friday morning’s vote officially gave the Senate 30 hours to debate the nomination. 

The 30 hours is divided equally between Republicans and Democrats, although it could take less time if either party decides not to use all of its allotted time. After that debate, the full Senate would then vote to either confirm or reject Kavanaugh.

In a tweet, the president said that George Soros “and others” were funding the protests.

“The very rude elevator screamers are paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad. Don’t fall for it! Also, look at all of the professionally made identical signs. Paid for by Soros and others,” Trump tweeted. “These are not signs made in the basement from love! #Troublemakers.”

 

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• Last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission agreed with the companies board of directors to be more constrained in his use of Twitter.
• On Friday, however, Musk was back to complaining about investors who bet against Tesla shares, saying they diminish the stock’s true returns.
• “When CEOs criticize short selling, its usually because they’re looking to deflect blame for their own failing,” one prominent short seller told Business Insider. 
• Follow Tesla’s stock price in real-time here. 

One week after settling with the Securities and Exchange Commission and agreeing to more oversight from Tesla’s board about his communications, CEO Elon Musk was back to his usual Twitter antics.

In a series of tweets fired out Thursday, the billionaire not only berated short sellers — those investors betting against Tesla’s stock — but also stockholders for lending out their shares to be shorted. Short sellers make money by borrowing a company’s shares and selling them, with the aim of buying them back at a lower price and returning them, pocketing the difference

“There is no rational basis for a long holder to lend their stock to shorts, as it dilutes the shareholder base & gives the short a strong incentive to attack the company by whatever means possible, including regulators,” Musk said.

Tesla shares fell as much as more than 4% at the opening bell Friday morning following the tweets. 

Musk went on to attack index funds, many of which passively own shares for their clients’ retirement accounts. T Rowe Price, BlackRock, and Vanguard are among Tesla’s top holders, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. These firms can lend out their holdings to short sellers, and collect a lending fee on top of any gains in the equity price.

“Where this breaks down is in passive index funds, which constitute most of the market,” he continued. “The holders of those funds, mostly small investors & retirement funds, don’t realize that their stocks are being lent to short sellers, diminishing their true equity return.”

BlackRock, which owns about 3.8% of Tesla’s outstanding shares, notably voted against Musk’s reinstatement as chairman at the company’s annual meeting in May. The push was lead by major proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis and supported by pension investment group CtW Investments.

‘Was he high?’

While short sellers may have incentive for the underlying stock to drop, there’s no connection between a stock being bet against and its price declining, according to market experts. 

“Like his other comments, I struggle to see how that’s true,” Dan Yu, a short seller and founder of Gotham City Research, told Business Insider in regards to Musk’s diminishing true return claim. “Was he high at the time of those tweets?”

He continued: “Highly shorted stocks have handily outperformed this year, and that’s before accounting for the interest that owners accrue if they lend out their shares.”

Musk has long derided short sellers on Twitter. “They want us to die so badly they can taste it,” he tweeted in June 2017.

He went so far as to joke about sending a pair of short shorts to hedge fund manager David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital. It was later revealed, however, that a box of shorts tweeted by the hedge fund manager was actually sent by the brand Chubbies on Musk’s behalf.

“When CEOs criticize short selling, its usually because they’re looking to deflect blame for their own failings, and obscure the uncomfortable truth that their long holders are losing confidence and are selling,” short seller Carson Block, founder of Muddy Waters Capital, told Business Insider. 

Tesla is currently the third most-shorted stock in the United States, with 9.196 million shares — or 26% of its float — riding against it. It trails Apple and and Amazon. 

Trista Kelley contributed to this report. 

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