— This is the script of CNBC's People of the Week for China's CCTV on December 15, 2022.
Elon Musk
In today's People of the Week, we first highlight the frequent selected to our list: Elon Musk.
According to Forbes, this week Musk lost his title as the world's richest person as his net worth was surpassed by LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault as Tesla's stock price fell. In September 2021, Musk overtook Amazon founder Bezos as the world's richest person.
Nonetheless, Tesla's stock price has dropped by about 60% since the beginning of the year, and Tesla stock is Musk's main source of wealth. Moreover, Musk has continued to sell Tesla's stock to finance the acquisition of Twitter, which has also put pressure on Tesla's stock price. Musk is reported to have sold Tesla shares worth US$3.58 billion, or about 24.9 billion yuan, between Monday and Wednesday this week.
Rupert Murdoch
Then let's pay attention to Rupert Murdoch, an American media tycoon and the chairman of Fox Corp.
Earlier, the election technology company Dominion Voting Systems accused Fox News of deliberately spreading some unverified "Conspiracy Theories" during the 2020 US election, including saying that Dominion used certain methods to manipulate the election, causing former US President Trump to lose the election.
Due to this, Dominion is seeking $1.6 billion in damages from Fox News. Fox claimed that it was entitled to report on "Trump's belief that votes were manipulated."
Murdoch was questioned this week on the allegations. In spite of this, his media empire still faces numerous challenges.
On one hand, having sold the film production business, it missed out on entering the streaming media industry. On the other hand, while he planned to merge the two news companies in which he held shares, he faced numerous obstacles.
Ursula von der Leyen
Taking a closer look at European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is busy this week responding to various challenges the EU faces.
First, earlier this week, she responded to a corruption scandal involving the European Parliament. Four European Parliament officials were accused earlier of accepting bribes from a Gulf state by Belgian prosecutors. According to von der Leyen, the allegations were worrisome and had shaken public confidence in the EU; she called for the creation of a new ethics agency.
Later, at a press conference about the outlook on EU gas supply in 2023, von der Leyen spoke on the energy crisis the EU faces. She outlined ten actions the European Union has taken to deal with the energy crisis, saying that these actions will allow the residents of the European Union to survive this winter safely.
She stressed, however, that the work is far from finished, and that preparations for the winters of 2023 and 2024 should begin immediately.
The International Energy Agency forecasted this week that the EU is at risk of a shortage of nearly 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas next year, which is almost as much as the Netherlands consumes in a year.