A Tesla Supercharger in Darien, Conneecticut
Electric vehicle maker Tesla announced in a memorandum to employees it would lay off more than 10% of its work force to cut costs. The news was followed by the resignation of two senior executives.
The job cuts total approximately14,000 people, and come at a time when the company is facing increasing competition and declining sales. Musk did not specify exactly where within the company the cuts would be made.
The news comes on the heels of new of an 8.5% decline in sales in the first quarter. Tesla said it delivered 387,000 cars worldwide in that period, down 8.5% from the year before.
“As we prepare the company for the next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, said in the memo, which was sent via e-mail. A copy of the note was reviewed by Frequent Business Traveler and The Travelist.
“There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done,” he wrote in the memo.
One of the executives who resigned, Drew Baglino, was a senior vice president at the automaker who had been at Tesla for over 18 years, a remarkable accomplishment in a company known for high executive turnover. His departure leaves only two other executives besides Musk, Tom Zhu and Vaibhav Taneja, as part of the executive leadership team at the company according to the Tesla website.
The other senior executive who is departing is Rohan Patel, who served as the automaker’s head of policy and business development and who has been a major force in gaining regulatory approval for self-driving technology
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
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