Sequoia Capital’s free speech debate
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 23 October 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tesla said its quarterly profit fell by more than a quarter, Sequoia Capital’s chief operating officer resigned over comments made by partner Shaun Maguire that she regarded as Islamophobic, and UK inflation unexpectedly held steady at 3.8 per cent in September. Plus, the Trump administration has been quietly suppressing climate change data.
Mentioned in this podcast:
Tesla profits drop more than a quarter despite record sales
Sequoia COO quit over Shaun Maguire’s comments about Mamdani
UK inflation unexpectedly holds steady at 3.8% in September
The costs of Trump’s campaign to censor climate science
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Today’s FT News Briefing was produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson, and Marc Filippino. Our show was mixed by Kelly Garry. Additional help from Michela Tindera and Gavin Kallmann. The FT’s acting co-head of audio is Topher Forhecz. The show’s theme music is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good morning from the Financial Times. |
| 0:04.0 | Today is Thursday, October 23rd, and this is your FT News briefing. |
| 0:08.6 | Tesla's profits took a major hit last quarter, and a Sequoia Capital executive quit over a |
| 0:13.9 | contentious free speech issue. |
| 0:16.5 | Plus, the Trump administration has been quietly suppressing government climate change data. |
| 0:21.8 | I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:32.7 | Tesla saw its profits drop nearly 30% last quarter. |
| 0:37.1 | The electric car company reported earnings yesterday, |
| 0:40.0 | and it said that its adjusted net income fell to $1.8 billion that just missed Wall Street expectations. |
| 0:48.2 | Tesla pointed to the costs associated with its pivot to robotics and artificial intelligence, |
| 0:53.8 | plus the hit came as the U.S. ramped up tariffs, rolled back rules on vehicle emissions, and |
| 0:59.4 | canceled tax credits for EVs. |
| 1:01.7 | The deadline for those credits was September 30th, and consumers bought Tesla's at a record |
| 1:06.7 | pace to get it in under the wire. |
| 1:08.8 | But it wasn't enough to buoy the company last quarter. |
| 1:12.0 | Tesla's share price fell and after hours trading yesterday. |
| 1:21.3 | A free speech debate within Sequoia Capital has bubbled over. The FT learned that the |
| 1:27.1 | venture capital firm's chief |
| 1:28.4 | operating officer, Sumaya Bobbillet, resigned in August because of comments made by partner Sean |
| 1:34.4 | McGuire. Here to tell us more is the FT's San Francisco Bureau Chief Stephen Morris. Hi, Stephen. |
| 1:40.1 | Good morning. So you broke this story. Tell us a little bit about McGuire and what he said. |
| 1:45.9 | So Sean McGuire has become a very high profile and very divisive figure within Silicon Valley and American politics at large. |
... |
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