Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-12-07)

KAEPERNICK: CARMEN MANDATO/GETTY IMAGES. YUQUN: QILAI SHEN/BLOOMBERG. SHOTWELL: ANDREW HARRER/BLOOMBERG. EWENIYI: COURTESY EWEN

IYI. ODUFUWA: COURTESY ODUFUWA

○ Kaepernick announced two

major projects this summer, a

six-part Netflix series about

his high school years and

a first-look deal with Walt

Disney Co., which includes an

ESPN docu series chronicling

the past five years.

The decision in 2016 to kneel

during the national anthem

at the start of NFL games—a

protestagainstpolicebrutality

and racial inequality—cost

Kaepernick his job as a

quarterback.In theyearssince,

he’sbecomea civilrightsicon,

advocating for causes that

cametotheforefrontin 2020

afterthepolicekillingofGeorge

Floydandthedisproportionate

death rate from Covid-

19 among Black people. A

campaign Kaepernick started

in 2016 to raise awareness in

Black and Latino communities

about higher education, self-

empowerment, and interacting

with law enforcement pledged

more than $1.75  million to

fight the virus and provide

legal support to Black Lives

Matter protesters.

The Netflix series, Colin in

Black & White, a collaboration

with Emmy award-winning

director Ava DuVernay, will

focus on how Kaepernick’s

adolescence shaped his

activism. (A release date

hasn’tbeenannounced.)The

partnership with Disney will

feature stories that explore

raceandshowcasethework

of minority directors and

producers.—KarenToulon

COLIN

KAEPERNICK

ACTIVIST

58

ZENG

YUQUN

CHAIRMANANDCEO,

CONTEMPORARY

AMPEREX

TECHNOLOGYCO.

NINGDE, CHINA ○

A February deal to

supply batteries to

Tesla Inc. helped

cut the price of

the automaker’s

Model 3 to about

$37,000 in China,

cheaper than

anywhere else.

Tesla, which sells more

electric vehicles in China

than any other company,

makes one car there: the

Model 3. And unlike in other

countries, more and more of

the cars in China are running

on CATL’s lithium-ion phos-

phate batteries, which are

cheap enough to let Tesla

trim 10% off the price, a

big step toward solidifying

a hold on the mass market.

Zeng, who has a doc-

torate in physics, has known

Tesla CEO and co-founder

Elon Musk for some time; in

an interview with Bloomberg

News this year, Zeng said

they text about technology,

Covid-19, and Musk’s main

interest: cheaper batteries

and cars. “He’s a fun guy,”

Zeng said. Batteries are

Zeng’s obsession, too. His

glass and steel headquar-

ters in southeastern China is

even built to resemble one,

and batteries have made

him an estimated $21  bil-

lion fortune. They could

make him more money yet.

Both com panies are open-

ing plants in Germany,

though neither side is say-

ing that they’re working

together. —John  Liu and

Chunying Zhang

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correctly predicting that his height would be 6'4" and that he would play for the San Francisco 49ers