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In what he called a “difficult, but necessary” reorganization, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced Tuesday morning on his Twitter account that the company plans to cut 9 percent of its salaried employees from the Palo Alto-based company, excluding production associates from its Fremont factory.
In an email that he had previously sent company employees and later posted on his personal Twitter account, Musk said that a need to cut duplicate roles and “job functions that, while they made sense in the past, are difficult to justify today” brought upon the major layoffs.
According to Electrek, a news organization covering electric transportation, 3,000 of the company’s 30,000 employees will be let go and will be informed this week. The layoffs won’t affect the manufacturing line at the company’s Fremont auto plant in order to complete production targets for Tesla’s new Model 3. The San Francisco Business Times listed Tesla as the largest manufacturer in the Bay Area with about 10,000 employees at its Fremont factory.
Only salaried employees across various departments will be let go, according to Musk’s tweet sent Tuesday.
Some employees have already been told that they were laid off Monday and Tuesday, Electrek reported.
After almost 15 years of having never achieved annual profit, Musk announced last month in an email to employees that the company plans on “flattening management structure” and to “trim activities that are not vital to the success of our (Tesla’s) mission” in search for profitability in the second half of the year, according to CNBC.
In an apparent extension of these goals, Musk cited the necessity to reduce costs and post profit as a primary reason for the major layoffs. He also expressed that the electric carmaker is not driven by profit but will need to “eventually demonstrate that we can be sustainably profitable” in his tweet Tuesday.
In the last three years, the company has suffered large deficits, losing $2 billion in 2017, $657 million in 2016 and $889 million in 2015, according to CNBC. In the first quarter of 2018, Tesla reported losses of $784.6 million, but also reported record revenues. The company’s shares were last up 3.2 percent at $342.77.
Musk also announced in his tweet that the company will discontinue its residential sales agreement with Home Depot and refocus efforts to sell solar power through Tesla online and in stores. Tesla representatives working at Home Depot will be offered jobs at Tesla’s retail locations.
Isn’t 3000 out of 30,000 10%? I guess 9% sounds better, not double-digits yet.
Each year Tesla loses more money and is on track to lose more than $2 billion this year. Record revenues and yet record loses persist.
It appears that the Emperor has no clothes.
2 billion in losses sounds horrible but a big part of that is from investment in new equipment and infrastructure to build more cars. It’s not really a loss. That capital still exists in factory itself, so they do actually have something to show for it, whereas a company that is just bleeding to death has nothing to show for their financial losses.
All IMHO. Ponzi scheme for investors and lenders. Toyota and GM collaborated to build the Fremont auto assembly facility, and they abandoned it after they realized that manufacturing cars in the Bay Area was neither economically nor logistically feasible. Numerous safety and labor law violation claims have been filed against Tesla, and CA state regulators have threatened to withhold overly generous CA state cash subsidies to Tesla buyers until Tesla complies with state safety and labor law standards. To add to Tesla’s woes, the UAW is moving to unionize Tesla’s hourly workers, and that would be a financial disaster for Tesla. All in my humble opinion, of course. Think “deckchairs on the SS Titanic”, and “Nearer My God To Thee”!