Elon's Trillion Dollar Deal With Tesla, EU's $3.5bn Fine For Google, Japan's Prime Minister's Resignation, and Warren Bros v Midjourney

8th September 2025

The European Union takes aim at Big Tech again with a record-breaking $3.5 billion fine against Google for adtech abuse. Warner Bros. launches a copyright showdown with Midjourney over AI-generated superheroes. Tesla unveils an unprecedented $1 trillion pay package to keep Elon Musk at the helm. And Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigns just days after striking a landmark tariff deal with Washington. All this and more in today’s Read It And Eat!

Major Headlines 

• Tesla offers unprecedented $1 trillion pay package to Musk

Tesla Inc. (TSLA) proposed a new compensation agreement for Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, potentially worth around $1 trillion, a massive package without precedent in corporate America. The long-awaited proposal, designed to incentivize Musk to lead Tesla for years to come, sets a series of ambitious benchmarks he must meet to earn the full payout, including expanding Tesla’s nascent robot-taxi business and growing the company’s market value to at least $8.5 trillion from around $1 trillion today. The plan spans 10 years.

The additional shares Musk could receive would push his stake in the electric-vehicle maker to at least 25%, according to the terms detailed in Tesla’s proxy filing Friday. Musk has publicly stated he wants a stake of that size. The plan dangles a financial windfall and expanded control of the company to Musk, already the world’s richest person, after his 2018 package valued in excess of $50 billion was struck down by a Delaware court. While Tesla appeals that decision, the board is seeking other ways to compensate its CEO, including with an interim stock award in early August valued at about $30 billion.

The incentives in the new plan aim to keep Musk’s focus on Tesla while it pursues growth in newer markets, including robotics and artificial intelligence. Friday’s filing also included a non-binding shareholder proposal for Tesla to take a stake in Musk’s xAI startup, an idea Musk has previously discussed. The new agreement underscores Musk’s iron grip on the automaker, despite the myriad demands on his time. Musk, who has served as Tesla’s top executive since 2008, oversees four other companies: SpaceX, xAI (XAAI.PVT), Neuralink (NEUR.PVT), and the Boring Co. He told Bloomberg in an interview in May that he’s committed to still being at the helm of Tesla in five years. Yahoo.Finance

• Warner Bros. sues Midjourney for AI images of Superman, Batman, and other characters

Warner Bros. is suing AI startup Midjourney for copyright infringement, alleging that the company allows users to generate images and videos of characters like Superman, Batman, and Bugs Bunny without permission.  As first reported by Reuters, Warner Bros. says that Midjourney knowingly engaged in wrongful conduct, noting that the company previously restricted subscribers from generating content based on infringing images but recently lifted those protections.

“Midjourney has made a calculated and profit-driven decision to offer zero protection for copyright owners even though Midjourney knows about the breathtaking scope of its piracy and copyright infringement,” the complaint reads.  The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, the return of any profits earned from the alleged infringement, and a halt to further violations.

Warner Bros.’ lawsuit follows a similar one filed in June by Walt Disney and Universal against Midjourney for copyright infringement involving characters such as Darth Vader, Bart Simpson, Shrek, and others. In this case, Midjourney has argued that using those works to train generative AI models is legal under the fair use doctrine of U.S. copyright law. TechCrunch 

• US immigration agents arrest hundreds at Hyundai plant, mostly Koreans

Hundreds of workers at a Hyundai Motor (005380.KS), car battery facility under construction in Georgia were detained in a raid by U.S. authorities on Thursday, stopping work on a plant that is one of the Korean automaker's major investments in the U.S. About 475 workers, most of whom were South Korean nationals, were arrested, according to U.S. immigration officials, the largest single-site enforcement operation in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) history.

Homeland Security officials said the workers arrested at the Ellabell, Georgia, site were barred from working in the U.S. after crossing the border illegally or overstaying visas. The investigation took place over several months, Steven Schrank, special agent in charge of investigations for Georgia, said during a press briefing. "This was not an immigration operation where agents went into the premises, rounded up folks and put them on buses," he said. Schrank said there was a network of subcontractors on the site.

A Hyundai Motor spokesperson said none of the people detained were employed directly by the automaker. The company said its chief manufacturing officer for North America, Chris Susock, would "assume governance of the entire mega site in Georgia." "We will conduct an investigation to ensure all suppliers and their subcontractors comply with all laws and regulations. Hyundai has zero tolerance for those who don’t follow the law," it said. Reuters

• EU fines Google $3.5B over adtech ‘abuse’

The European Commission announced this week that it’s fining Google €2.95 billion (just under $3.5 billion). The commission found that Google had violated European Union antitrust rules by favoring its own advertising services. Specifically, the commission said Google “abused” its “dominant positions” by favoring its ad exchange AdX in both its publisher ad server and in its ad-buying tools. The commission also said Google has 60 days to “bring these self-preferencing practices to an end” and “to implement measures to cease its inherent conflicts of interest along the adtech supply chain.”

“Google must now come forward with a serious remedy to address its conflicts of interest, and if it fails to do so, we will not hesitate to impose strong remedies,” said Teresa Ribera, the commission’s executive vice president for clean, just and competitive transition, in a statement. “Digital markets exist to serve people and must be grounded in trust and fairness. And when markets fail, public institutions must act to prevent dominant players from abusing their power.” In response, a Google spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the company would appeal the commission’s decision, adding, “There’s nothing anticompetitive in providing services for ad buyers and sellers, and there are more alternatives to our services than ever before.” 

This is the EU’s second largest antitrust fine ever (behind a $5 billion fine against Google in 2018). The decision was criticized not just by Google, but also by U.S. President Donald Trump, who complained in a Truth Social post about the “many other Fines and Taxes that have been issued against Google and other American Tech Companies” such as Apple. “We cannot let this happen to brilliant and unprecedented American Ingenuity and, if it does, I will be forced to start a Section 301 proceeding to nullify the unfair penalties being charged to these Taxpaying American Companies,” Trump said. TechCrunch

• Japan’s Prime Minister to Resign After Striking Tariff Deal

  
  

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has announced his resignation as president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), just weeks after its ruling coalition suffered a historic defeat in a July election. Ishiba’s decision to step down on Sunday comes after he initially resisted calls from within his party to resign over the electoral loss, saying he wanted to make sure that a tariff deal struck with the United States was appropriately implemented. “With Japan having signed the trade agreement and the [US] president having signed the executive order, we have passed a key hurdle,” Ishiba said on Sunday. “I would like to pass the baton to the next generation,” he added.

Ishiba will remain as prime minister until the party holds elections to replace him as president of the LDP. His resignation deepens the political uncertainty facing the world’s fourth-largest economy. After assuming his role last October, the 68-year-old politician saw electoral defeats wipe out his coalition’s majority in both houses of parliament. The losses, stoked by voters’ concerns about the rising cost of living, made it more difficult for Ishiba’s government to implement its policy objectives. Amid the country’s growing political instability, Ishiba was urged to resign by mostly right-wing opponents within his party, who viewed him as responsible for the results of July’s House of Councilors election.

After announcing his resignation at a news conference on Sunday, Ishiba said he would begin the process to find his replacement. Ishiba’s resignation comes just days after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to slash tariffs on Japanese car imports from 27.5 percent to 15 percent, formalising an earlier agreement announced in July. Under its terms, a 15 percent levy will be imposed against most Japanese exports to the US. However, speaking on Saturday, Tokyo’s top tariff negotiator said the broad trade agreement is “not settled” yet, as US presidential orders on pharmaceutical and semiconductor tariffs have not been issued. New York Times 

Minor Headlines 

• Russia’s largest-ever attack on Ukraine hit the main government building in Kyiv BBC

  
  

• Apple is expected to debut its new iPhone on Tuesday Bloomberg

  
  

• Teen coder made first millennial Catholic saint at youthful Vatican event Reuters

  
  

• US adds 22,000 jobs in August as labour market begins to stall Aljazeera

  
  

• Oil prices gain as risks of sanctions on Russia offset OPEC+ output hike Reuters

  
  

• French PM François Bayrou on the brink in crucial confidence vote, Financial Times

  
  

• Access to X, YouTube other online platforms restricted in Turkey, internet monitor says Reuters

  
  

• Australia mushroom murderer Erin Patterson jailed for minimum of 33 years Reuters

  
  

• Chevron to go 'investment heavy' in South Korea on refining, petrochemicals Reuters