Stock Trades: None.

Options Adjustments: Tesla Puts: Closed for profit and reopened new positions to maintain exposure. Google Puts: Rolled positions to a later expiration date to manage risk and collect additional premium.

Facts: On December 19, the Delaware Supreme Court reinstated Elon Musk’s 2018 performance-based compensation plan, reversing a lower-court ruling. The package approved by shareholders and tied to operational and market-cap milestones is currently valued at approximately $139 billion.

My Take: This removes a long-standing legal overhang and restores clarity around Tesla’s incentive structure. Musk’s compensation remains tightly linked to long-term execution and shareholder value, exactly how I want founder-CEO incentives aligned.

Facts: On December 15, Musk confirmed Tesla has begun testing fully driverless vehicles with no occupants or safety drivers in Austin, expanding beyond earlier geo-fenced trials.

My Take: This is a meaningful technical milestone. While regulation and scale remain open questions, unsupervised testing materially strengthens the autonomy narrative and long-term optionality around robotaxi revenue.

Facts: Tesla announced additional investment to enable up to 8 GWh of annual battery cell production at its Grünheide factory starting in 2027.

My Take: Greater vertical integration in Europe improves supply-chain resilience and cost control. This quietly strengthens Tesla’s core EV economics while autonomy develops.

Facts: Reports highlighted increasing regulatory friction around FSD approval in the EU. Separately, Tesla’s U.S. EV market share has declined to ~43%, down from above 50% in prior years.

My Take: This is the counter-balance to the optimism above. If EU FSD approval slips beyond 2026, the medium-term robotaxi TAM is capped. Declining EV market share is acceptable only if autonomy succeeds. At this stage, the investment thesis increasingly rests on software execution, not manufacturing dominance.

Facts: Friday, December 19 marked the Nasdaq-100’s annual reconstitution alongside a major triple-witching expiration. Six companies were added (including Western Digital, Seagate, and Monolithic Power Systems) and six removed (including Lululemon, ON Semiconductor, and The Trade Desk).

My Take: This is forced rotation for passive investors selling laggards and buying momentum. Structurally, the index continues shifting toward AI physical infrastructure: storage, power management, and compute, rather than consumer or pure software exposure.

Facts: Tencent created a centralized AI Infrastructure Department and hired former OpenAI researcher Yao Shunyu as Chief AI Scientist, reporting directly to President Martin Lau.

My Take: This is an admission that prior AI efforts were fragmented and that’s positive. Centralization and external talent increase near-term execution risk but are necessary to defend Tencent’s long-term moat.

Facts: Tencent’s tactical shooter Delta Force has surpassed $500 million in gross revenue, with strong international adoption across mobile and PC platforms.

My Take: This validates the global studio strategy and reduces reliance on domestic Chinese titles. It meaningfully improves Tencent’s long-term multiple narrative.

Facts: Tencent repurchased 1.1 million shares on December 17 for approximately HK$635.7 million.

My Take: Consistent buybacks reinforce capital discipline and support per-share compounding exactly what I want from a mature, cash-generative platform.

-William | Relax to Rich Club