大象传媒

Electric carmaker Tesla has said it will cut its workforce by 7% after the "most challenging" year in its history. In an email to staff on the firm's website, founder Elon Musk said that growth had been strong. But he added it was difficult to make Teslas with their new and developing technology as cheaply as conventional cars, and the firm's cars were still "too expensive for most people". We hear from Caroline O'Donovan, Tesla reporter for the Buzzfeed. It鈥檚 already the longest partial American government shutdown in history, and all the signs are that it鈥檚 going to get even longer. We find out what business opinion-formers have have to say on the situation. Plus we look back at the rest of the week's big business stories with independent business commentator Patricia O'Connell in New York, and Max Colchester of the Wall Street Journal in London.

Throughout the programme we are joined by Robert Milliken, Australia correspondent for the Economist in Sydney.

(Picture: A Tesla Model S. Picture credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)