San Francisco Chronicle Business & Technology News - Spoken Edition

Number of the day $40 million That’s how much of his own money Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he has spent on the Boring Co., which he started after becoming frustrated with traffic. Tuesday night, Musk unveiled his first effort at a network of tunnels that will whisk autonomous, electric cars — not just Teslas — underneath Los Angeles with guide wheels attached to the front tires.

Roku Streaming Stick Plus Cnet rating: 5 stars out of 5 The good: The Roku delivers 4K and HDR video in a compact package for an affordable price. Its dead-simple interface puts every streaming service on a level playing field. Roku has more 4K HDR apps and better search than competitors. Its responses are lightning fast, its video quality as good as any streamer, and its remote can control TV volume and power.

Another day of big losses knocked U.S. stocks to their lowest levels in more than a year Monday. Investors dumped high-growth technology and retail companies as well as steadier, high-dividend companies. Oil fell below $50 a barrel for the first time since October 2017. Hospitals and health insurers slumped after a federal judge in Texas ruled that the 2010 Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. Other stocks wobbled in morning trading, then plunged in the afternoon.

China is hitting the brakes on tariffs China announced a 90-day suspension on Friday of tariff hikes on $126 billion of U.S. cars, trucks and auto parts following its cease-fire in a trade battle with Washington. The suspension is China’s first step in response to President Trump’s Dec. 1 agreement to suspend U.S. tariff hikes for a similar 90-day period while the two sides negotiate over American complaints about Beijing’s technology policy and trade surplus.

A Plaid farewell Famed venture investor Mary Meeker has made her final deal on behalf of Kleiner Perkins — $250 million to Plaid, which reportedly puts the value of the San Francisco company at $2.65 billion. Plaid makes developer tools that help power financial apps and services, including Venmo, Coinbase and Acorns Grow. Meeker cut ties with Menlo Park’s Kleiner Perkins in September and will begin raising funds next year for a new firm.

About two dozen people protested Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in downtown San Francisco on Tuesday, accusing the embattled utility of being responsible for California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire. Demonstrators began with a rally in Embarcadero Plaza before marching a few blocks to PG&E headquarters. Their chants included cries of “clean power to the people” and “PG&E, no more greed, we should own our energy.

Number of the day 21% That’s how much shares of Stitch Fix fell after it said that user growth will be flat in the current quarter. The online clothing service posted earnings of $10.7 million (10 cents per share) Monday, on revenue of $366.2 million, exceeding Wall Street expectations. But its disappointing outlook caused analysts to downgrade the stock. The San Francisco company said it would focus on getting its customers to spend more instead of trying to reach new users.

A ballot measure to ban all vacation-home rentals in South Lake Tahoe’s residential neighborhoods after three years — and reduce their occupancy limits almost immediately — has passed by margin of 58 votes, the El Dorado County Elections Department announced Tuesday in its official final results of the November elections. The City Council plans to meet Monday to accept the election results. Ten days later, Measure T will take effect, said Chris Fiore, a spokesman for the city.

Lee James’ caseworker called to tell him that after receiving government assistance to help pay the rent on a studio in the Tenderloin, he was now making too much money to qualify. “Huh. Me?” James said, laughing. “Can you do that? Can you make too much money? It’s a good problem to have, all things considered. James, 52, paid his rent in full, on his own, this month for the first time since 2015.

Welcome back to Tech Chronicle. If you choose to deck your inbox with gay verbiage, make it this newsletter. Used Christmas tree: There’s not an app for that In an on-demand world, can’t you just push a button and get a Christmas tree? My fellow journalist Kara Swisher’s joke is that San Francisco is “assisted living for Millennials,” though this particular query came from a Boomer colleague.

A Palo Alto company that’s speeding credit card swipes and dips for restaurants and other retailers is now planning to expand to more countries with its recent funding. Poynt recently raised $100 million in a round of funding led by Elavon and National Australia Bank, bringing its total backing to $133 million. The new round will help Poynt expand to several countries in Europe and Asia. It will also help the company bring Poynt’s software to other makers of card-reading devices.

California’s economy is likely to slow next year, along with the rest of the nation’s, in part because it’s running out of workers, economists at UCLA said in their annual forecast for the state and nation, released Wednesday.

Next week, grain bowls and salads will be sold to the public in a new San Francisco tower leased by Facebook — but you’ll need to take an elevator to get there. Organic food and juice company Urban Remedy is opening on Wednesday on the seventh floor of 181 Fremont, currently the city’s third-tallest tower. The store is unusually high up.

Health and fitness are year-round concerns, but as each New Year approaches, lots of us resolve to start exercising or to rev up our workouts. Some people think that putting skin in the game — paying for a membership at a health club — will provide motivation. But beware: It’s a little like Las Vegas, in that the house wins more often than it loses.

Number of the day $1.2 million That’s how much Uber has been fined by British and Dutch authorities for failing to protect customers’ data during a cyberattack in 2016. Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office fined the company $491,000, and Dutch officials imposed a $679,000 fine. British officials cited “avoidable data security flaws” that allowed personal data for roughly 2.