SSPAI

Category: BUSINESS

  • SSPAI Morning Brief: Musk’s $1 Trillion Compensation Plan Approved

    SSPAI Morning Brief: Musk’s $1 Trillion Compensation Plan Approved

    Morning Highlights

    • Musk’s $1 trillion compensation plan approved
    • Multiple departments Issue notice on scientifically protecting children’s hyperopia reserve
    • FBI investigates the identity of archive.today’s operator
    • Meta earns 10% of its revenue from scam ads
    • National health commission issues “negative behavior list” for medical professionals’ online health education
    • E-commerce sellers use giant tags to prevent “wear-and-return” fraud
    • Casual rumors worth a glance

    Musk’s $1 Trillion Compensation Plan Approved

    On November 6, at Tesla’s annual shareholders meeting, 75% of shareholders voted in favor of approving CEO Elon Musk’s compensation package valued at up to $1 trillion. If Musk achieves all the performance targets tied to the plan, his stake in Tesla will increase by 12%, giving him control of roughly one-quarter of the company’s shares.

    This compensation plan is linked to Musk’s performance goals for the next decade, during which he will receive no salary or bonuses. To unlock all stock awards, Musk must raise Tesla’s market value sixfold to $8.5 trillion, increase profits by 24 times to $400 billion, and successfully scale up production of robots and autonomous driving subscription services.

    The vote was highly controversial. Several shareholder advisory firms had previously recommended voting against the proposal. In response, Tesla’s board launched an active lobbying effort, warning investors that Musk might resign if the plan was rejected. After the result was announced, Musk took the stage to celebrate—dancing alongside the humanoid robot “Optimus.” He reiterated that AI and robotics would significantly boost the global economy, claiming that robots would “eliminate poverty” and describing the Optimus project as a “money printer with no limit.” He also urged shareholders to continue holding Tesla stock.

    It is worth noting that Musk did not directly request $1 trillion worth of stock. Instead, he sought 25% of Tesla’s voting rights to maintain his motivation and engagement. However, as Tesla is a publicly traded company, listing rules prevent it from violating the “one share, one vote” principle by granting Musk extra voting power without equivalent economic ownership. Many tech companies have adopted dual-class share structures to consolidate founders’ control, but such frameworks are typically established before going public—something Tesla can no longer emulate. Tesla formed a special committee to design the compensation plan. After careful evaluation, the committee concluded that there was no viable way to grant Musk the level of control he desired without paying an enormous financial cost.

    Multiple Departments Issue Notice on Scientifically Protecting Children’s Hyperopia Reserve

    Recently, China’s Ministry of Education, the National Health Commission, and the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration jointly issued a notice calling for the scientific protection of children’s hyperopia reserve.

    According to the notice, newborns typically have smaller eyeballs and shorter axial lengths, resulting in a physiological hyperopia (farsightedness) of about +2.50 to +3.00 diopters—known as the hyperopia reserve. As children grow and develop, this reserve is gradually consumed, and by around ages 12 to 15, their eyes usually reach an emmetropic (normal vision) state. If a child’s hyperopia reserve falls below the physiological range appropriate for their age, it indicates insufficient hyperopia reserve—an early warning sign for potential myopia.

    The notice calls for comprehensive, age-specific measures. For children aged 0–3, the use of electronic devices such as mobile phones and computers should be strictly prohibited. Preschoolers aged 3–6 should avoid exposure to electronic products, and kindergartens must not implement “early primary education” programs. At the primary school level, students should have at least two hours of outdoor activity daily to prevent excessive eye strain. Local health authorities are instructed to guide medical institutions in strengthening public education, promoting appropriate technologies, and providing targeted interventions for children with insufficient hyperopia reserves.

    In terms of monitoring and early warning, the notice requires enhanced eye health screenings for children. Refractive screening should be conducted at key ages (e.g., 2, 3, 4 years old) for children aged 0–6 to track hyperopia reserve levels. Primary schools must perform vision screenings twice per semester. For children found to have visual abnormalities or insufficient hyperopia reserves, schools and related institutions must provide early warnings, implement focused interventions, and establish referral mechanisms to guide parents in adopting effective prevention and control measures.

    The notice also emphasizes home–school cooperation. Parents are urged to set an example by controlling children’s screen time and ensuring they maintain proper posture while reading and writing.

    FBI Investigates the Identity of Archive.today’s Operator

    According to a report by 404 Media, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is attempting to uncover the true identity of the operator behind the well-known web archiving site archive.today and its mirror sites. Based on documents published by the site’s official X (Twitter) account, the FBI issued a subpoena on October 30 to the site’s Canadian domain registrar, Tucows, requesting information related to its operator.

    The subpoena stated that the request was part of a federal criminal investigation, though it did not specify the alleged offense. The FBI demanded that Tucows provide detailed information about the site’s operator, including the customer’s name, service and billing addresses, payment methods (such as credit card or bank account numbers), IP addresses, internet session logs, and device identifiers (such as IMEI numbers). The subpoena also ordered Tucows not to disclose its existence in order to avoid interfering with the ongoing investigation. A Tucows spokesperson confirmed that the company would comply with lawful procedures but declined to comment further on the specific investigation.

    Archive.today, founded in 2012, has saved hundreds of millions of web pages and is widely used to preserve content behind paywalls or pages at risk of being deleted or modified. The site gained prominence during the GamerGate controversy over a decade ago, when users employed it to access and share articles without generating traffic for media outlets targeted by the movement’s boycott. The platform operates in a legal gray area. It uses a modified version of Chrome to capture web pages, automatically bypassing many paywalls on news sites. It employs a large pool of rotating IP addresses, ignores robots.txt restrictions, and refuses deletion requests from original content owners.

    Archive.today also functions as a typical “hydra site,” maintaining multiple mirror domains under different top-level domains to evade blocking and censorship.The identity of its operator has long been shrouded in mystery. Many speculate that the site may be run by a highly skilled Russian individual, as its operator once complained in 2022 about a PayPal account closure and mentioned difficulties in receiving payments “through the Iron Curtain.”

    Meta Derives 10% of Its Revenue from Scam Ads

    According to a Reuters report citing internal Meta documents, the company internally projected late last year that about 10.1% of its total 2024 revenue—approximately $16 billion—would come from scam and prohibited-product advertisements. Across its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Meta was said to display roughly 15 billion “high-risk” scam ads to users each day.

    The documents reveal that Meta only bans advertisers when its automated systems are at least 95% certain they are engaging in fraudulent activity. If the system’s confidence is lower—but still suspects potential scams—Meta does not block those advertisers; instead, it charges them higher advertising rates. Due to Meta’s personalized recommendation system, users who click on one scam ad are likely to be shown even more scam ads. An internal review admitted that “it is easier to run scam ads on Meta than on Google.”

    Meta is aware that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating its role in hosting financial scam ads and reportedly views a fine as “inevitable.” The company estimated that penalties could reach up to $1 billion. However, Meta internally believes that since it earns $3.5 billion every six months from these “high legal-risk” ads, such profits would “almost certainly” offset the cost of any regulatory settlements. The documents also show that Meta’s leadership decided to take action only when facing imminent regulatory pressure.

    In response to Reuters’ report, a Meta spokesperson described the 10.1% figure as a “rough and overly broad estimate,” claiming that the actual number was later determined to be lower, but declined to provide updated data.

    National Health Commission Issues “Negative Behavior List” for Medical Professionals’ Online Health Education

    On November 7, the General Office of the National Health Commission, together with the Comprehensive Department of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the Comprehensive Department of the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration, issued the Negative Behavior List for Medical Professionals’ Online Health Education (Trial). According to the notice, the move aims to address issues where some medical professionals engage in product promotion, advertising, or unauthorized disclosure of medical information under the guise of health education, damaging the image of the healthcare profession.

    The list sets out ten “red lines,” focusing on the following key points: medical professionals must not use health education as a pretext to market or sell pharmaceuticals, health supplements, or wellness courses for profit; must not disclose patients’ personal information or display identifiable images; must not release false or unverified information, exaggerate illnesses or treatment outcomes, or promote so-called “miracle doctors” or “miracle cures.” The list also prohibits misuse of AI, as well as the publication of vulgar, suggestive, or sensational content aimed at generating traffic.

    The notice also clarifies the management responsibilities of medical institutions, requiring the establishment of a registration system for health-related online accounts run by medical staff. Medical professionals—including interns and trainees—who operate accounts in an official capacity must report them to their affiliated institutions. Institutions are instructed to maintain records, conduct dynamic supervision, and regularly review posted content.

    For any negative behavior discovered, disciplinary action should be taken according to the severity of the violation, and in serious cases, the institution may order the suspension of the account’s operations.

    E-Commerce Merchants Use Giant Tags to Prevent “Wear-and-Return” Abuse

    According to a report from Sixth Tone, during the 2025 Double 11 shopping festival, many Chinese e-commerce retailers began attaching A4-sized giant tags to clothing items in an effort to reduce the industry’s high return rates—particularly targeting malicious “wear-and-return” behavior.

    These oversized tags are typically made of stiff cardboard, with exaggerated dimensions and bright colors. They are often printed with prominent messages such as “No Returns or Exchanges After Removal.” The design ensures that the tag is too large to conceal or tuck away while wearing, effectively discouraging customers from wearing the clothes for photos or outings before returning them. A hangtag manufacturer in Sichuan told local media that the giant tags first appeared in March this year and became widely adopted by clothing companies ahead of Double 11. Some models have already sold out. Last week, the hashtag “Giant Tags to Prevent Returns” trended on Weibo.

    Industry estimates suggest that return rates in China’s online apparel sector remain among the highest in e-commerce, with women’s clothing return rates reaching as high as 60% to 80%. In recent years, retailers have voiced growing frustration over shrinking profit margins, noting that they must not only cover return shipping but also bear the costs of logistics, cleaning, and restocking. Merchants have also complained about customers who exploit the system by purchasing clothes for short-term use and returning them immediately afterward. Such returned items often come back with sweat stains, makeup residue, or odors, rendering them unsellable.

    Casual Rumors Worth a Glance

    • According to CNBC, citing insiders, Moonshot AI’s newly released Kimi K2 Thinking model, unveiled on November 6, cost $4.6 million to train. The company claims that the model surpasses GPT-5 and Sonnet 4.5 Thinking in certain benchmark tests. For comparison, DeepSeek V3 officially reported a training cost of $5.6 million, while GPT’s training costs are estimated to be in the billion-dollar range.
    • According to Wired, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has allegedly been operating an unlicensed private school on the grounds of his Palo Alto estate for several years. The school reportedly began operating around 2021, officially registering for 14 students, but neighbors observed more than 30 students attending regularly. Neighbors have repeatedly filed complaints with local authorities over noise, traffic congestion, and intrusive security patrols. Eventually, the city ordered the school to shut down. A spokesperson for the Zuckerberg family stated that the school had not closed but rather relocated to a new site, without disclosing its location.
    • According to China Tax News, on November 7, 22 leading organizations in the micro-drama industry, including iQIYI, Kuaishou, and Douyin, jointly signed the “Micro-Drama Industry Lawful Tax Compliance Initiative” in Beijing. The document urges practitioners to abide by tax laws and fair competition principles, starting with every business transaction. It explicitly prohibits actors and creators from shifting tax obligations through “after-tax pay” or “after-tax revenue share” schemes, requires companies to fulfill withholding responsibilities, and denounces illegal practices such as “dual contracts” and private account payments.
    • According to a post by Weibo tech blogger @Digital Chat Station, as of November 2, Apple’s iPhone 17 series had reached over 8.25 million activations in China. Of these, approximately 3.957 million were iPhone 17 Pro Max, 2.462 million were iPhone 17 Pro, 1.728 million were iPhone 17, and 107,000 were iPhone Air. Based on the current pace, total activations are expected to exceed 10 million by the week of November 16.
    • According to Mark Gurman —
    • Apple is reportedly planning a major expansion of its satellite capabilities, which will include an API for third-party apps, satellite-based navigation in Apple Maps, photo messaging via satellite, and maintaining connectivity even without a direct line of sight to the sky. These upgrades are made possible by infrastructure improvements from Apple’s satellite partner, Globalstar.
    • Apple is also said to be finalizing a $1 billion-per-year agreement to license a custom 1.2-trillion-parameter Gemini model to power its enhanced Siri assistant. Internally, this model is referred to as AFM v10, a codename designed to obscure its connection to Google. However, Apple’s long-term goal remains to transition to its own in-house AI models.
    • In addition, Apple is reportedly developing a low-cost MacBook, codenamed J700, set for release in 2026. The device is aimed squarely at Chromebooks and budget Windows PCs, with a particular focus on the education market.
    • Apple is also preparing to introduce a new Health+ subscription service within the Health app as part of iOS 26.4. Health+ will use an AI assistant to help users manage their personal health. Meanwhile, due to high churn rates and limited revenue from Fitness+, Apple is reassessing the service’s future and has begun reshuffling its management team. However, because Fitness+ maintains a dedicated core user base and has low operational costs, Apple is unlikely to shut it down entirely to avoid negative publicity.
  • Reflections on Running a Side Business Taobao Shop for One Year: What Life Lessons Have I Gained?

    Reflections on Running a Side Business Taobao Shop for One Year: What Life Lessons Have I Gained?

    Preface

    At the end of September 2024, driven by interest and a sense of potential, my spouse and I registered a company and opened a Taobao store. It’s been over a year since the company was established, and the shop has now been in operation for a full year.

    For details about why we decided to open a Taobao store, how we set it up, our initial business strategy, and the early challenges and operations we faced, you can refer to our first post at the following link.

    This article will focus on what we’ve learned over the past year of running the shop — the new insights we’ve gained, and our future plans going forward.

    Operational Review of Our Taobao Store’s First Anniversary

    Let’s start with the economic indicators. In 2025, the total payment amount was about 200,000 RMB, which includes some sales that were refunded immediately after payment and some that were returned after delivery. The actual sales revenue was roughly 180,000 RMB.

    In the early stage, we kept manual bookkeeping for our handmade products, but later gave it up because it took too much time. At present, we are uncertain about the exact profit — our accounting is rather imprecise. The overall gross profit margin should be around 12%–15%, which means, conservatively, that our Taobao store generated about 20,000 RMB in net income over the past ten months.

    Of course, we also listed the same products on two other platforms, whose sales volumes were roughly similar to those on Taobao. Roughly estimated, our total combined business income over the ten months of this year was around 35,000–40,000 RMB.

    Next, let’s look at the Taobao store ratings. Most customers don’t leave reviews, so the majority are default positive ratings, with only a few neutral or negative ones. Over the year, out of about 1,000 orders, there were roughly 6–8 neutral or negative reviews, so after quality exemptions, our base score remains stable.

    The logistics rating is relatively poor because we use the cheapest default shipping option, and there’s no realistic way to improve that score. The service assurance rating mainly suffers because, as the customer service representative, I often respond within three minutes during regular working hours, which isn’t fast enough according to platform standards.

    Indirectly, this means that running the shop doesn’t demand too much mental energy. For neutral reviews, we fully respect the customer’s freedom of expression and never ask for deletions. For negative reviews, we usually make one phone call to explain the situation — whether the customer revises it or not is up to them.

    In terms of logistics, we prioritize convenience over cost, choosing not to spend extra money. As for customer service, we reply when available, and hope that most customers are straightforward buyers who purchase without much back-and-forth.

    Here is the ratio of positive and negative reviews from customers who left feedback within the past 180 days. Most of them are default reviews. Since we don’t sell counterfeit products and don’t fake positive reviews, I believe that most stores which allow authentic, non-intervened feedback would show a similar ratio.

    In terms of marketing, we still don’t participate in any of Taobao’s major promotional events and haven’t done any paid traffic campaigns. In 2025, we expect to pay Taobao around 1,000 RMB in service fees (roughly 0.6% of total sales). These fees will be refunded in 2026 as marketing vouchers, at which point we plan to experiment with some promotional activities.

    This year, there have been some fluctuations in supply, mainly relying on my technical ability to identify products and locate low-cost sources from competitors in the market. As a result, part of our supply chain cannot be considered stable, and we must constantly invest effort in sourcing. This technical skill is essentially our core competence — without it, we would have become just another undifferentiated seller.

    In terms of market trends, our niche belongs to the food industry with a gift-oriented nature, so sales peak around the Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese New Year, with both sales volume and profit margins increasing during those times. Conversely, June 18 (618) and Double 11 (Singles’ Day) are our off-seasons — partly because large shops discount similar products, and partly because we don’t join promotional campaigns or pay Taobao extra fees, meaning we don’t receive traffic boosts.

    Regarding competition, some keen competitors noticed our model this year and adopted similar sales strategies, driving price wars. For a low-barrier Taobao shop, such market shifts are to be expected. We continue to monitor trends and adjust our products and pricing dynamically, though we won’t lower our already modest profit margin of around 10%.

    Our advantage lies in customer retention — we have a decent repurchase rate, with several loyal, well-paying customers making consistent repeat purchases. By maintaining consistent quality, we can secure high-quality repeat buyers, ensuring a portion of our income comes from low-effort, steady sales.

    As for other operating expenses, the main cost comes from outsourced accounting services for the company. Since most customers don’t request invoices, our overall expenses remain relatively balanced, though not perfectly matched. After all, our company is still very small and hasn’t attracted attention from tax authorities.

    In 2025, we received two business complaints, both filed by professional counterfeit reporters. The first incident was resolved under a first-time violation exemption, while the second required compensation and settlement with the complainant. These cases consumed additional time and energy, but also offered insight into a side of society we hadn’t encountered before.

    Overall, our business model is relatively mature and stable. Specifically regarding the Taobao store, the expected annual profit for 2025 is around 25,000 to 30,000 RMB, indicating a stable operating environment, though further growth may be limited. As the external environment evolves, we may face new risks, while new opportunities remain unclear for now.

    From our perspective as operators, losses are unlikely, but in the long term, risks outweigh opportunities.

    Subjective Expectations for Operating the Taobao Store

    As reflected in our review of operations, the store is currently in a stable state—not thriving, but surviving. It doesn’t require much daily effort, yet its sales volume remains limited. The only visible path to further expansion would be to add more SKUs and find new suppliers, but the business lacks scalability through human resources. We cannot simply hand the store over to others for management; it still requires hands-on involvement, meaning what we earn is essentially hard-earned income.

    At this stage, the store can continue running, but since we don’t see new growth opportunities, our motivation isn’t particularly strong. In the future, when the effort no longer feels worthwhile, we may consider closing the store, especially since we’re about to transition from a two-person household to a family of three.

    If we want to do better, we’re hoping to encounter a good opportunity—something that could lead to improvement in our business model or profitability, rather than continuing to make only modest, labor-based income.

    If we don’t make changes or updates, the business will gradually decline due to fluctuations in supply sources. However, if we do make changes, it will require more time and effort. Ultimately, my goal is for the Taobao store to eventually generate some degree of passive income, though this remains difficult to achieve at present.

    What Have We Gained After One Year of Running Our Taobao Store?

    Gained a Certain Amount of Financial Income

    The financial return isn’t huge, but it does cover part of our daily expenses—for example, our child’s future milk powder and diapers. With both of us spending a small amount of time and effort each day, we can manage these costs. Running a Taobao store won’t make us rich, but it certainly allows us to earn a modest side income.

    Gained Additional Social Insight

    Before starting the store, I never had such a strong understanding of the e-commerce world from a seller’s perspective. Now, even for unfamiliar products, I can roughly judge whether prices are reasonable based on their sales models. Previously, as ordinary employees, we never had to deal with business administration complaints, but through handling them, we’ve learned about how laws and regulations are applied in real situations and gained a clearer view of grassroots administrative logic in modern society.

    Improved Family Collaboration

    Throughout the store’s operation, our teamwork and coordination as a couple have continuously improved. We share a common goal, make mutual contributions, and experiment with different business strategies. This collaboration has deepened our understanding of each other’s way of thinking, helped us work more cohesively, and taught us how to communicate and resolve differences more effectively.

    Broadened Our Perspective on Income

    The store’s small-scale profitability has shown us that income doesn’t have to come solely from full-time jobs. It’s a practical example that allows us to rethink our approach to work and time investment, providing a more comprehensive foundation for evaluating our future energy allocation and career focus.

    Acquired Practical Skills

    We’ve also developed several practical abilities, such as quickly understanding customer psychology from just a few messages, creating and reviewing financial records, and gaining a thorough understanding of shipping costs and logistics pricing. Running the store has indeed helped us improve in multiple skill areas.

    Conclusion

    That’s the full review of our store’s operations from all perspectives, along with some thoughts about the future.

    If I were to summarize the experience of running a traditional e-commerce store, I’d say it’s an ordinary project with limited income—not a trendy opportunity, and it earns hard work money. Still, I believe we’ve gained a lot throughout the process, and it has been a valuable way to turn our skills into income.

    That’s all for this record. If there are any significant changes in the future, I’ll likely share another update.