👉 Background: Tesla is the electric car giant founded in 2003 and launched the world’s first mass-market EV, the Model 3. Elon Musk, one of the co-founders of Tesla has tried to test everything under the sun - from bullet-proof cybertrucks to AI-powered Optimus robots.

‍👉 What happened: Tesla has filed for a transportation charter-party carrier permit in the US that will allow Tesla to own and operate a fleet of ride-sharing cars. Musk has spoken about an autonomous ride-sharing network for about 10 years, but interestingly, the licence that they applied for will have human drivers.

‍👉 What else: Tesla’s car sales fell by more than 44% in January this year and its stock has dropped around 25% too. So it’s clear why it’s trying to push into the ride-share market, which is a $113 billion industry dominated by a few main players (ie Uber and Lyft)

What's the key learning?

💡When a company’s core business slows down, it often needs to find new ways to grow. Ride-sharing is a natural extension for Tesla since it already has the cars and it also has brand loyalty — even if it is declining.

💡By jumping into ride-sharing, Tesla can build a new revenue stream, but also begin playing around with its self-driving ambitions.

💡We’ve seen other companies like Apple expand into new industries when their primary markets matured. For example, Apple moved from iPhones (ie hardware) into services like Apple subscriptions and Apple TV+ - which now makes up more than 21% of its total revenue.