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Tech

SpaceX buys up a lot of Cybertrucks

PLUS: Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings steps down

Jennifer Mossalgue

April 17, 2026

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Elon Musk’s own companies are reportedly buying a lot of Cybertrucks — and without them, Tesla’s sales numbers would look a lot worse.

SpaceX alone accounted for more than 18% of all U.S. Cybertruck registrations in Q4 2025, and without purchases from Musk’s other ventures, sales would have fallen 51% year-over-year. SpaceX may not need 1,279 stainless-steel pickups — but Tesla certainly did.

In today’s tech rundown:

Tesla Cybertruck’s biggest customer is Musk
Reed Hastings is leaving Netflix
YouTube adds an off switch for Shorts
Amazon buys Globalstar for $11.57B
Quick hits on other tech news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

TESLA

🛻 Tesla Cybertruck’s biggest customer is Musk

Image source: Ideogram / The Rundown

The Rundown: Elon Musk’s own companies bought nearly one in five Cybertrucks registered in the U.S. last quarter, reportedly masking a demand collapse that would have otherwise sent sales down 51% year-over-year.

The details:

SpaceX alone accounted for 1,279 of the 7,071 Cybertrucks registered in the U.S. during Q4 2025 — more than 18% of the total, according to Bloomberg.
The remainder went to xAI, Neuralink, and The Boring Company, for a total of 1,339 units and roughly 19% of all U.S. registrations for the quarter.
Bloomberg noted it remains unclear what Musk’s non-rocket companies are doing with the trucks — or why an AI firm would need 50 of them.
The pattern has continued into 2026, with Musk-owned entities adding another 158 Cybertrucks in January and 67 in February.

Why it matters: The figures put hard numbers on what had been anecdotal — Cybertrucks piling up at SpaceX’s Starbase — and raise questions about how Tesla accounts for sales to companies its CEO controls, without the disclosure standards expected in comparable fleet transactions.

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How AI is reshaping modern GTM experiences
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NETFLIX

💼 Reed Hastings is leaving Netflix

Image source: Getty Images

The Rundown: Reed Hastings, the co-founder who transformed Netflix from a DVD mailer into a $12B-a-quarter streaming empire, is leaving the board in June after 29 years — as the company he built moves fully into the Sarandos-Peters era.

The details:

Hastings, currently serving as chairman, will not stand for reelection at the June annual meeting, citing a desire to focus on philanthropy.
Netflix posted Q1 2026 revenue of ~$12.25B, up ~16% year over year, with a net income of ~$5.3B — beating expectations.
Hastings backed the failed Warner bid, but execs say his exit is unrelated; Netflix shares still slid about 8–9% in after‑hours trading on the news.
The board’s nominating committee will now move to select a new chairman in the coming months.

Why it matters: Hastings not only founded Netflix but invented the playbook that forced Hollywood to reinvent itself around streaming, data, and subscriber-first economics. His exit closes a 29-year chapter that helped reshape an entire industry. What comes next belongs entirely to co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters.

YOUTUBE

🧘🏽 YouTube adds an off switch for Shorts

Image source: YouTube

The Rundown: YouTube is giving users a genuine off switch for Shorts, adding a zero-minute limit to its existing time management tools so you can effectively strip the TikTok-style feed out of the Android and iOS app.

The details:

The zero-minute option extends an existing Shorts timer that previously only let users cap scrolling between 15 minutes and two hours per day.
Hit your limit — including zero — and the Shorts tab stops serving video, replacing the feed with a full-screen notice that you’ve reached your daily cap.
The feature originated inside parental controls but is now rolling out to all adult accounts on Android and iOS through YouTube’s time management settings.
To enable it: Settings → Time management → Shorts feed limit, then set your daily cap anywhere from zero to two hours.

Why it matters: The zero-minute limit is a rare instance of a major platform giving users a real off switch for an addictive engagement surface, rather than just more nudges and reminders. It tests how serious YouTube is about digital well‑being, and whether users (and regulators) will start expecting this level of control from rivals.

AMAZON

🛰️ Amazon buys Globalstar for $11.57B

Image source: Amazon

The Rundown: Amazon is spending $11.57B to acquire satellite operator Globalstar, giving its fledgling Amazon Leo satellite network the spectrum, infrastructure, and direct-to-device capabilities it needs to challenge SpaceX’s Starlink.

The details:

The $90-per-share deal will enable Amazon to flesh out its satellite business, Amazon Leo, with direct-to-device services ahead of its launch later this year.
Apple’s Emergency SOS and Find My features will keep running on Globalstar’s network under a new long-term agreement with Amazon.
Globalstar also brings two-way satellite IoT capability and government and defense accounts to Amazon’s portfolio.
Amazon is targeting a constellation of 3,200 satellites by 2029; Starlink currently has about 10K in orbit.

Why it matters: The deal hands Amazon a ready-made spectrum position and operational satellite infrastructure that would have taken years to build independently. For consumers, it sets up a race against Starlink in satellite connectivity that could ultimately drive broader, faster, and cheaper coverage beyond the reach of a cell tower.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

Google is teaming up with Gucci to launch fashion-focused AI smart glasses in 2027, following its 2026 Android XR “Project Aura” glasses.

Alphabet’s early 6.11% stake in SpaceX could translate into roughly a $100B-plus windfall if the rocket company debuts at around a $2T valuation, Bloomberg reports.

OpenAI scrapped its Norway data-center lease, and Microsoft is taking over the capacity while still powering OpenAI via Azure.

AI data center startup Fluidstack is reportedly negotiating a new $1B funding round at an $18B valuation.

Slash, a business-banking and corporate card startup founded five years ago by then-teenage college dropouts, raised a $100M Series C at a $1.4B valuation.

The U.S. will now require data centers nationwide to disclose detailed information about their energy use through a forthcoming mandatory survey, Wired reports.

French President Emmanuel Macron is urging EU leaders to adopt a unified set of rules to limit minors’ access to social media and better protect children online.

Spotify now lets users in the U.S. and UK buy physical books from audiobook pages in its app via a “Get a copy for your bookshelf” button that redirects to Bookshop.org.

Amazon-backed nuclear startup X-energy is eyeing up to $814M in its U.S. IPO at a $7.5B valuation to fund deployment of its small modular reactors.

A lightweight Van Rysel skinsuit with an integrated airbag rapidly inflates to protect cyclists’ upper bodies in crashes and could reach consumers within two years.

The FCC granted Netgear an exemption from its ban on foreign-made routers, allowing the company to sell overseas-manufactured devices in the U.S. through 2027.

Blue Origin is rolling out a new stock-option plan that replaces its annual cash bonus program, but many employees see it as unfair treatment of current and former staff.

A cancer-drug compound, JQ1, temporarily shuts down sperm production in mice without hormones, and normal fertility returns after treatment stops.

COMMUNITY