Tesla shares dropped this morning after the firm announced plans to lay off ‘more than 10 per cent’ of its global workforce as demands for its electric vehicles start to falter in a highly competitive market.
CEO Elon Musk sent a company-wide email over the weekend announcing the layoffs, tech publication Electrek reported on Monday.
Musk, in the internal memo, said the ‘difficult decision’ to reduce staff will ‘enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle’.
‘There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done,’ the billionaire said, as cited in the memo, before thanking ‘everyone who is departing Tesla for their hard work over the years’.
Tesla, which is set to report its quarterly earnings on April 23, reported a decline in vehicle deliveries in the first quarter, its first in nearly four years and also below market expectations.
The firm, in a press release, blamed its fall in deliveries on a drop in EV car demand, the arson attack at its factory near Berlin and supply-chain issues caused by the Red Sea conflict.
Rumors of a looming layoff had been spreading over the last few months after Tesla asked managers to identify critical team members, paused some stock rewards and canceled some employees’ annual reviews, according to the report.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13309733/Tesla-lay-staff-demand-EV-cars-competition.html