this is business live from bbc news with ben thompson and sally bundock. tesla shows us the road to the future. the world's leading electric car maker cut its losses and pushes into fifth gear with a big jump in sales. live from london, that's our top story on thursday the 3rd of august. elon musk‘s company says it's had more than half a million orders for it's model 3, but how long will it take for tesla to turn orders into profits? also in the programme... delivering a blow to australian retailers? internet shopping giant amazon says its going down under to open its first warehouse in the country. and as the dow surged through 22,000 off the back of those apple earnings — attention today on the bank of england's rate decision and forecasts for growth.

and juggling business with pleasure. we speak to the boss of cirque du soleil on how to walk the tightrope of balancing finance, safety and magic tricks with global expansion. and as brazilian footballer neymar looks set to become most expensive footballer in history — moving to french club paris saint germain for a record breaking 262 million dollars — we want to know what's your most expensive purchase? let us know, use the hashtag, bbc biz live. come on, confess! do get in touch. a lot of suggestions coming into us already, including your university education and your house, chances are it is one of those two. let us know, use the hashtag. let's begin in the united states, with tesla.

tesla is the car company that's promising to change the world as we know it. investors have been taking a huge gamble on the electric car maker and itjudging by its latest numbers that appears to be paying off, the share price has risen even higher. here's why: in the three months to the end ofjune sales hit $2.8bn. that's more than double the same time last year. it's still losing money though — over $336 million in the same three month period which is more than last year — but not as has as investors had feared. and it's paying off — tesla delivered nearly 26,000 vehicles in that time, 40% more than the same time last year. and that number could soon rise even further because its taken more than half a million orders for the model 3. it started delivering what's being described as its first mass market vehicle last week. prices start at $35,000. tesla hopes the model 3 will keep it at the top of the market for electric only cars.

but two chinese rivals are already in the top five — as well as nissan/renault. plus the german car giants are investing heavily as they try to put the ‘dieselgate‘ emissions scandal behind them. but the model 3's design is transforming the industry. it has less than 7,000 parts, which compares to 30,000 in a traditional car. that might sound like a lot. but it isn't much compared to the traditional car. that makes it simpler to build — and less likely to suffer supply chain disruption. jeremy white, product editor of wired is with me. thank you for coming in. so, ben is talking through some of the statistics and numbers. these are pretty good earning figures for tesla, aren't they? which is good to deliver, considering how the share price has been going up and up over the recent weeks and months? they are impressive figures and they show

the appetite for these vehicles, they are getting 1800 orders per day for the new model three. it is whether they will be able to deliver those, they have had difficulty delivering on the previous models, getting sales delivered. it is whether they do that, that is interesting. talk us through what could be bumps in the road. they are more simple for the manufacturer but it is the supply chain, the plants to build the cars, they do not have that at the moment. they are building a battery factory in nevada with panasonic and they are trying to compete with the traditional manufacturers, with the supply chain which is already set up, it is going to be difficult. and it is true that elon musk has cast a spell over wall street and the numbers help him, it

shows that he is delivering on his enormous promises but, in the meantime, his rivals in the car industry are catching up very quickly, and they are busy working on those similar vehicles, and there is momentum behind this now. we have government policy coming into line, we had the meeting in berlin yesterday and announcements from the uk government. the appetite is that? yes, and the regulations coming in for 2019 require higher restrictions on emissions, that is why we had an announcement from volvo that they will be making electric only cars from 2019. car makers are making ca i’s from 2019. car makers are making cars and government is trying to push policy but when it comes to the nuts and bolts of it, or whether you can charge what you want, and the batteries need to get better so they do not take so long to recharge? that is right, the model three has a

range of 500 kilometres. jaguar are working on a car with a similar range, as are bentley. it's what you do when you run out of power after that distance. the gamble is you will only use the car for less than that per day and then come home and charge it up. what if you are on the road and you do not have charge left? battery technology is relatively in its infancy in electric vehicles and it needs to get much better to allay these fears and allow for fast charging. thank you for your time this morning, fascinating. so much more about tesla on our website, including if you dig deep and find the interview with elon musk that rory kevinjones did not so long ago. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news... the food delivery company deliveroo is introducing new safety measures to protect its riders from violence. it follows acid attacks in london last month, where the victims included riders delivering by bike or moped. among the measures are a new app feature that allows riders to raise security concerns, plus a trial of helmet cameras. australia's commonwealth bank has been accused of massive

breaches of money—laundering and counter terrorism regulations. the case against the country's biggest mortgage lender is the biggest case of its kind in australia and the first against a major bank. commonwealth bank says it is reviewing the allegations and would respond "in due course". toshiba says it's going ahead with the capital investment to build a new memory chip production line without joint venture partner western digital, after the two have failed to reach an agreement about the investment. somewhat confusingly though, western digital hasjust said it intends to invest in the new chip line along with toshiba. we will find out what is going on and let you know! you have thatjob, 0k? and let you know! you have thatjob, ok? i and let you know! you have thatjob, 0k? iam and let you know! you have thatjob, ok? i am delegating! amazon has announced it will open its first retail logistics warehouse in melbourne. the online retailer says that the 211,000 square metre "fulfilment centre" is "an integral early step" in its effort

to establish a retail presence in australia. that's management—speak if i have ever heard it! mariko 0i is in our asia business hub in singapore. we heard the management—speak, what is going on, a big change for australia? indeed. it seems that amazon is really investing heavily in asia—pacific, just last week we told you that amazon has launched its prime now service in singapore as part of the start of its aggressive expansion into southeast asia and now the company has unveiled the location of its first warehouse, in melbourne, making sense due to its proximity to the east coast were over 80% of the country's population lives. we still do not know when the service is going to start but it is definitely going to start but it is definitely going to start but it is definitely going to put a lot of pressure on

traditional retailers whose shares have been falling since the announcement was made. absolutely, thank you very much. yes, amazon's integral early step to establish a retail presence in australia. a quick look at the numbers... asian shares were down on thursday, led by falls in south korean tech shares, as investors locked recent gains. there was also some evidence of slowing activity in china's service sector and weaker commodity prices. that is why those numbers are red. on wall street though, the dowjones breaking through the 22,000 barrier for the first time in its 121—year history. i will get out of the way so we can talk about it better! that was pumped up by those earnings from apple we told you about yesterday. more earnings news in europe for investors to digest — but attention will be on the bank of england — as it announces its rate decision. a hike would be a big surprise — most assuming a rise will come early next year, not this year. and so assuming rates remain

on hold, the quarterly inflation report — that we get a little later will be key. what does it make of brexit, slowing growth, and rising inflation? don't pay too much attention to that, the ftse 100 don't pay too much attention to that, the ftse100 is actually down a little bit this morning. more on that shortly — but first samira hussain has the details about what's ahead on wall street today. earnings continue on thursday with several more companies reporting, including kraft heinz, the changing taste in consumers opting for more fresh and organic food will likely have hurt the company in the last quarter. also reporting earnings is the health insurer aetna, insurers will be looking for comments on the company, with uncertainty. after the senate failed to pass a health care

bill to dismantle 0bamacare. aetna previously. we will hear from the dish network, they are struggling with the growing trend of cord cutting where subscribers are dropping tv packages altogether for cheaper online streaming services, such as netflix. joining us isjeremy stretch, head of currency strategy at cibc world markets. afamiliar a familiarface a familiar face to the programme, nice for you to be here. do you want to start? let's begin with the dowjones. dow jones. i said figures were partly due to apple but there are other factors? yes, apple was one of them, but in terms of the apple store, people were bracing themselves for slightly disappointing numbers as there was a fear that tech savvy phone users we re fear that tech savvy phone users were waiting for the next version of the iphone, that was not the case. earnings are strong in a number of

industries, that is the underlying dynamic. and you could argue there isa dynamic. and you could argue there is a currency effect in some instances, as the us dollar has continued to depreciate in recent weeks, as you translate foreign earnings into us dollars, it enhances earnings numbers and boost equity markets. and among market watchers there is a hot debate as to what will happen next. is there going to be a horrible correction or will its tail off? where are you in the big debate? it depends on what policymakers do, and so... are you sitting on the fence? the valuations, if you look at them against his strikes, they look stretched but we have seen a massive run, especially in us equities, there should be some degree of correction but in that context it is not necessarily unhealthy. are you excited about super thursday? undoubtably, not that we are expecting a policy change but what is most interesting is what the

banks say about the growth, they revised the forecast in february and we re forced revised the forecast in february and were forced to take a little of that in may, they may be forced to do more now, the first half of this year has been rather disappointing and the consumer is facing difficulties in terms of maintaining expenditure, so i think numbers will be revised down which could impact how the markets consider monetary policy outlets for this year and especially into 2018. we will be watching closely! the reason i am looking at my phone... that is a bit rude! we have been asking people for comments about neymar. .. 0h, rude! we have been asking people for comments about neymar... oh, so it is work? jeremy is coming back in a moment. the brazilian footballer is moving to psg for a record—breaking amount of money, we suspect. a lot of the comments this morning. will you share them or will you tease us? starbucks, there we go, i bought a $6 cup of coffee from starbucks, it didn't even taste good, it was the most expensive

purchase of my life. on my wish list is the tesla model three, says natasha. this is what you can spend your money on... a familiar theme... housing, cars and clothing. we will look through those later. still to come, we will find out how you balance the high wire act of entertainment with demand for profit with the boss of cirque du soleil. stay tuned for that. you are with business live from bbc news. high street fashion chain next says sales fell by 7.4% in the three months tojuly. but sales at its next directory and online shopping business rose 11.4%. theo leggett is our business correspondent — these results don't look great theo? next has had a torrid time, what was in these number is, talk us through them. it is a mixed bunch, but full

price sales, if you take into account what is going on on the high street, online and the catalogue business were up 0.7%. now, that doesn't sound too dramatic but it was a lot better than the first quarter, which was pretty dire. at 11 and one third percent the share price. what is explaining that? next has said it still has a very large cash pile, still generating a lot of cash pile, still generating a lot of cash and it intends to return a lot of it to shareholders, that is why the share prices going up, that the fa ct the share prices going up, that the fact that it was pretty mediocre, it was a lot better than the first. sales picked up injune and july. ten one says it wasn't down to any particular marketing genius, it was the warm weather, remember that? it was summer. so the bits that are doing well, we have mentioned the online side of the business, focus through that. next directory was already doing well. in the second

quarter sales were up more than 11%. 0verall, that is helping to massage the entire business. the high—street business is down more than 7%. it is what we have been seeing for quite a while, next is doing very poorly on the high—street but doing rather well online. thank you very much indeed. talking about this on the today programme today on radio 4, despite the rise in binge viewing, streaming services, things like netflix, and people say people are still —— 0fcom said people are still watching traditional tv. like business live! iam sure traditional tv. like business live! i am sure it is business live, they just forgot to include us. all the people watching —— older people watching more than younger people,

who i guess ten to watch it more on ta blets. who i guess ten to watch it more on tablets. full details on the website. the top story today, shares in the electric car company tesla are pretty sharply after reporting a doubling of sales and more than half a million orders of its model three car. that has begun shipping right now. it has been pegged as the big change for the electric car market. now markets trading in europe, the footsie down slightly, they are all edging lowerjust a little bit. not following on from the record—breaking night on wall street, the dow jones record—breaking night on wall street, the dowjones closing down. cirque du soleil — or in english the circus of the sun — it's one of the biggest theatrical

producers in the world. the company had its beginnings in 1984 and now has almost 4,000 staff from more than 50 countries. known for its acrobatics, the group is putting on 20 different shows around the world this year. and the canadian company is expanding, it's just bought the american entertainment firm the blue man group, and is looking to walk the tightrope to china. sharanjit leyl has been speaking to circue du soleil‘s chief executive about the company's expansion plans, and the challenges it faces. now with the acquisition of blue man group, we want to, so with the blue man group, we want to, so with the blue u group, we want to, so with the blue man group and the experience on time square, cirque will be looking at markets like london, hamburg in germany, and all of the asia, we still see a lot of growth, including

here, singapore. when the private equity firm tpg first took over sector to lay, —— cirque du soleil, there were lots of streamlining of cost cuts, a re there were lots of streamlining of cost cuts, are those concerns still there? we have not seen any push from tpg to do extreme cost saving. 0bviously from tpg to do extreme cost saving. obviously we managed saving, but it hasn't changed the way we produce shows and we create shows. that is what i told them from the get go. i saidi what i told them from the get go. i said i am there to listen to all the advice you can give me, from a business standpoint, but for creation and production, you know, that's so important, please leave our creators alone, and theyjust burst laughing, because as financial people, they haven't had any ambition about the product itself. and of course the chinese company folsom also has a stake. so have they influenced your push into

china? they are a great supporter of us cracking the chinese market, diving when we will look into three yea rs diving when we will look into three years from now, and you will see the of cirque in china. it will be because of the support i got from them. over the years though, cirque du soleil has had its fair share of tragedy. you've heard three deaths, including the death of the son of one of the founders. so what have you done to improve safety? 0bviously you done to improve safety? obviously we are very sad of what happened, but the reality is a lot of enquiries has been done after those fatalities, and it was crystal clear that it was an accident. because we are recognised worldwide as having the best safety measure in the world. and hopefully it will never happen again, but we are very proud of our safety measures. tell usa proud of our safety measures. tell us a little of yourself, because you have a really very different background. you started off as a journalist, you were in television and now you are the chief executive

of the largest circus firm in the world. how did you get into it? that's interesting, because i used to support guy in the early days of cirque du soleil when i was in the pr business. and he was one of the founders. yes, then i moved to the tv business and started working with quy tv business and started working with guy again, and that is when the relationship was not between us, and monday he called me out of the blue and said you are going tojoin the circus. and here i am running around the world for cirque du soleil. did you say yes immediately? no, for me, it was such a different challenge than the tv business, i said let me think about it, and three weeks later i wasjoining think about it, and three weeks later i was joining the circus. and it has changed your life ever since. it did, it brought an amazing experience to travel around the world, and to have the possibility

to bring a canadian company around the world. and this is very, very rewarding. and the fact that you're a canadian brand, how do you use that as a potential selling point? what is quite unique about canada is that we are recognised worldwide as a country that really bring a lot of people from around the world, and eve ryo ne people from around the world, and everyone loves to come to our creative centre in montreal. they feel at home and hosted. if you were to come in our studio in montreal, you would have the feeling you are at the united nations, not at cirque du soleil, which is great, because we like this idea that everybody feels at home when they come to canada and they feel at home and they come to cirque du soleil. daniel lamarre. jeremy ross back to talk through some of the stories out there being discussed and there is no doubt that this one about the footballer neymar‘s possible

tra nsfer footballer neymar‘s possible transfer fee, not confirmed, footballer neymar‘s possible transferfee, not confirmed, not sealed or signed by any means, but quite phenomenal the same. sealed or signed by any means, but quite phenomenalthe same. this sealed or signed by any means, but quite phenomenal the same. this is where business and sport collide in a very serious way because we're talking about enormous sons of money. and also about geopolitics, because psg, the owners of them are the qataris, and of course they are also trying to enhance their own credibility internationally and they are suffering from a little bit of a political blockade back home. and hosting the world cup in 2022. they say money talks, but some would argue this is like verbal diarrhoea, it really is on another level and you wonder where it will end. we have this discussion every year, whether the football profit news comes out, deloitte, with that on an annual basis. it just comes out, deloitte, with that on an annual basis. itjust seems there is no cap. the numbers continue to accelerate exponentially. in the uk, we have seen new football rights,

more tv cash coming into the game, which invariably goes out of the game to agents and players. we as viewers or supporters of course are one is forced to pay those prices in order to facilitate these ever elevated salaries and transfer fees. we asked the viewers what they might do with this kind of money. chris said, we asked what is your most expensive purses —— purchase, chris said it was his divorce. alex says my degree. so i think it is houses and education and maybe family matters. someone on twitter says on returning from deployment in afghanistan, i bought a tag watch for £2000. that is an expensive watch. let's talk about this other story, which is interesting. ftse

100 pay—outs is going down. story, which is interesting. ftse 100 pay-outs is going down. indeed. what we have seen in the last ten or 15 years is that the earnings of chief executive ‘s have risen stratospherically. we are nowjust seeing a bit of a correction, partly due to the fact that shareholders are becoming more vociferous and pushing back against... there have been shareholder revolts. indeed, and that is making businesses or renumeration committee is a little bit wary of putting their heads above the parapet and trying to give chief executive ‘s exceptionally high pay packages for fear of investor revolts. it could be an element of tokenism, but there was a realisation there had been a dislocation between topics vicky gibbs and the rest of the workforce. thanks, nice to see you. —— between top executives. hello, good morning, a day of sunny

spells and showers today, the majority of those will be the north. they are making their way slowly towards the east, twirling around an area of low pressure sitting around the north of the uk. a bit more in the north of the uk. a bit more in the way of cloud to start with but by midday some sunny spells developing. in the south—west, temperatures 18 or 19 celsius with some fairly gusty winds. for the south—east, not too many showers but there is the risk of one or two, a bit more in the way of cloud for wales, but for northern ireland, northern england and scotland, slightly less strong wins here, so the showers slower moving and the odd rubble of thunder not out of the question. a bit more rain across the northern isles as we move through the day today. the afternoon, showers continue to make their way east. sta rt showers continue to make their way east. start a fizzle out across england and wales, more in the way of brightness developing, some gusty winds into the afternoon, 30 to a0 mph in the south not out of the question. we could see localised flooding in the north—east of

scotla nd flooding in the north—east of scotland thanks to those heavy showers with highs of 22 celsius. that means if you are heading to the women's golf today, we are looking ata women's golf today, we are looking at a day of sunny spells and showers. the showers have the potential to be quite heavy, the odd rubble of thunder not out of the question but there will be some brightness around as well, highs of 20 celsius. this evening and overnight, we will hold onto some or showers, cloud and outbreaks of rain and drizzle ageing into scotland. 0vernight lows of between 12 and 16 celsius. tomorrow we're looking at another day of sunny spells and showers, a fair amount of cloud across scotland, showery outbreaks of rain to begin with and the northern ireland, much of england and wales, more brightness than today, good spells of sunshine, the odd isolated shower but the winds easing, so temperatures up today, a maximum 23 celsius. in the north, in north—west to leave breeze taking the —— north—westerly breeze bringing temperatures down a touch.

saturday a mixture of sunny spells and showers, those showers could be pre—match anywhere but in between we will see some bright intervals and sunny spells developing, temperatures reaching a maximum of 21 celsius. a bit more in the way of dry weather on sunday, still one or two showers but for northern ireland and later scotland, starting to see some more persistent rain edging in with highs of 21 celsius. hello — it's thursday, it's nine o'clock, i'm tina daheley in for victoria, welcome to the programme. mental health patients across the uk are spending years in treatment units awaiting discharge, according to figures obtained by the bbc. i used to see other people, like, leaving before me and i'd be, like, "yeah, but i've been ready a long time, and i'm more equipped." but they seem to get out quicker. we'll have all the details and ask why this is happening. one of the uk's major courier companies tells us they're taking

action to protect their moped riders from acid atttacks. it's keep burning on my face. i was just knocking on the window of a few cars, i was just knocking on the windows. they're not opening because probably they were scared.