When two of the greats lose their crown

Being dethroned...

The rumours are true! There have been two recent dethronings. It's official - Tesla is no longer winning the EV battle, and Netflix has lost the streaming wars. 

Tesla is no longer the world's biggest electric vehicle maker as the EV pioneer takes a backseat to BYD. You might be thinking, ok but who is BYD? BYD is a Chinese automaker backed by Warren Buffett's investment company, Berkshire Hathaway. It has soared past Tesla as the world's leading electric vehicle seller selling over 640,000 new electric vehicles in the first half of 2022. This is a 315% increase from its sales figures in the first half of 2021. 

By comparison, Tesla delivered 560,000 vehicles in the same six month period. Its production of EVs was impacted in the latter months due to the extended lockdowns in Shanghai which slowed production.

Beijing's push for citizens to cut down on their personal carbon emissions has helped BYD's rapid ascent as China's largest domestic automaker.

Many Tesla supporters would argue that BYD does not produce 100% electric cars, but hybrids and therefore the U.S. company would thus continue to behold the crown. 

This ‘dethroning’ has also been highlighted in the company's share prices, with shares of BYD climbing 15% since the start of the year and Tesla tumbling 42%.

Netflix has also had a similar fate.

Just 16 months after launch, a bargain-priced Disney+ hit 100 million subscribers – a feat Netflix took a decade to accomplish. Disney+ has now won the streaming video on demand (SVOD) crown with 222 million subscribers, versus Netflix’s 220.7million subscribers.

Disney (which includes Hulu and ESPN+) added over 14 million subscribers in the June quarter of 2022, while Netflix struggled this year with its first loss of subscribers in over a decade.

Netflix is already available globally, bar China, Crimea, North Korea, Russia, and Syria, whereas Disney+ is still in the early stages of its international rollout.

Their share prices have performed pretty similarly in the past month, up approximately 30%. But if we zoom out, Netflix’s share price is down over 60% from its peak in October 2021, whereas Disney has only fallen 38% from its peak in March 2021.

Ultimately, the main reason people invest in stocks is to grow their money. Therefore, we need to invest in companies that have optimistic futures and that can grow for many years to come. So what company do you think will be the ultimate winner of EVs and SVOD? Will Netflix make a comeback? Will BYD cars be more common on the road than Tesla? Only time will tell!