Tesla Demand "Off the Hook," the Big UK Vote & More News You Need to Know Now

Good morning! Here’s what we’re keeping an eye on today: general elections in the UK, more earnings including Alibaba, US jobless claims and economic data for France. 

The UK is voting. It could get messy as Conservatives, led by sitting PM David Cameron, and Labour, led by Ed Miliband, are neck and neck in the polls. The name of the next prime minister could well be decided by a game of alliances. 

It is “more probable than not” that the New England Patriots deliberately deflated balls used in the 2015 AFC Championship game . So concludes, carefully, the investigation led by Ted Wells, released yesterday by the NFL. The report names quarterback Tom Brady but doesn’t outright say he was complicit. Brady denies it. The NFL is considering “possible disciplinary action.” 

Demand for Tesla’s new home batteries is “crazy off the hook,” says CEO Elon Musk. So much so that it could be all his Nevada gigafactory does  he added. The company received 38,000 pre-orders: “we’re basically sold out through the middle of next year.” Tesla reported 52% revenue growth but widening losses. It also made its first acquisition, of a Michigan company manufacturing the machines used in Tesla factories.

Zynga is laying off 364 people, 18% of its workforce, and refocusing on five core categories of games. The restructuring is expected to save the company $100 million a year. Though still losing money, the company, which saw the return of founder-CEO Mark Pincus last month, announced better-than-expected results. 

Google has a “bench” program: its top execs and engineers can move out of an active role and remain on the payroll for months or years before being called back, essentially getting paid not to go to the competition, Business Insider’s Alexei Oreskovic and Jillian D’Onfro report. “It helps keep people off the market. It helps keep the institutional knowledge if you need them back for any reason. And it costs [Google] so little to retain these people rather than to have them leave and start the next Facebook,” one former Google exec told BI.  

Cable companies need to get over the net neutrality debate and start competing, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said at the industry’s annual conference. “We cannot go backwards,” he said. Cable companies should focus on improving broadband infrastructure but don’t currently have much of an incentive. “More competition would be better,” Wheeler said, hinting that the DirecTV-AT&T deal might be a hard sell. The whole (short) speech is worth a read, it’s uncommonly straight talk. 

Janet Yellen finds stock prices “quite high.” In Fed speak, that’s actually strong-ish language. She added that presents a modest risk to financial stability  especially when the Fed starts raising rates later this year. For comparison, in February, Yellen found stock “somewhat higher than their historical average levels.” In March, they were “on the high side.” Can’t you see the difference? 

It’s a clash of (billionaire) titans. Daniel Loeb, who runs hedge fund Third Point, struck back at Warren Buffett’s criticism of hedge funds. Buffett “has a lot of wisdom, but I think we need to be aware of the disconnect between his wisdom and how he behaves,” Loeb told the SALT conference. “He criticizes activists, he was the first activist. He criticizes financial services companies, yet he loves to invest in them. He thinks that we should all pay taxes, yet he avoids them himself.”

Whole Paycheck no more. Whole Foods plans to launch a lower-priced chain of grocery stores aimed at Millennials. The retailer reported lower than expected sales growth; the stock lost more than 10 percent. 

McD’s latest attempt to return to its heyday? Rebooting its 1990s mascot, the Hamburglar. He’s a suburban dad with a stubble now, but hasn’t lost his taste for beef. Nostalgia usually works in advertising – if like here you’re aiming at young families and the older end of the Millennial segment – and in social media, where Hamburglar is trending. Maybe not for the right reasons.

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Author's note: this article was edited to correct an error. The Ted Wells "Deflategate" investigation is about the AFC Championship game, not the Super Bowl. That's how much I know about football. Thanks to reader Dan Africk for kindly pointing out the error. Keep keeping me honest.