Massive layoffs at Tesla

The Tesla Motors World Headquarters in Palo Alto. © iStock.

Things aren’t going so well at Tesla. On Tuesday, staff were told that the company would shed 4,100 jobs out of 46,000, or about 9% of its workforce. In mid-May, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, had warned that the company would undertake a “thorough reorganization” and flatten its management structure. “To be clear, Tesla will still continue to hire outstanding talent in critical roles as we move forward and there is still a significant need for additional production personnel,” Musk said in a letter to employees on Tuesday. “I also want to emphasize that we are making this hard decision now so that we never have to do this again.” He later added in a Tweet that the cuts were “difficult, but necessary”. At the same time, Alison Griswold, a reporter for Quartz, noted that the number of job offers at Tesla has plummeted, from 3,214 on May 10 to 1,985 on June 12, with 64 openings taken down over just two days, on June 10 and 11. Given all of this, one wonders whether the company will meet its latest production goals for the Model 3. In any case, one quarter of its American clients who had preordered a Model 3 have given up and asked for their $1,000 deposit back.

⇨ CNBC, “Tesla to cut 9% of jobs in ‘difficult but necessary’ reorganization.”

⇨ Quartz, “Another red flag for Tesla: job openings have plummeted.”