Tesla Hiring Paused, Elon Musk Says Need to Cut Staff 10% on ‘Super Bad Feeling' About Economy
Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said the electric carmaker needs to cut staff by around 10%, noting he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.
The email, titled “pause all hiring worldwide,” was sent to Tesla executives on Thursday, according to the report.
Shares of Tesla fell 4.8% at 8:02 a.m. in early New York trading, weighing on the broader US market. Representatives from the automaker didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
The report comes at a tumultuous time for Musk and the carmaker he made an EV pioneer. Tesla’s stock has slumped 22% since the billionaire struck a shock deal to acquire Twitter Inc. that now appears to have stalled. Anxiety about the global economy and the impact of China’s Covid-19 lockdown in Shanghai, where Tesla has a factory, have also weighed on the company, which has weathered worldwide supply shortages for components like chips better than most.
Analysts on Thursday said slumping new-car sales in the US were stoking fears of a potential recession.
Musk also joined the heated debate around return to office this week, urging staff at Tesla to get back to their desks, or find work elsewhere.
“The more senior you are, the more visible must be your presence,” Musk wrote, adding that employees were “required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week.” “That is why I lived in the factory so much -- so that those on the line could see me working alongside them. If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt.”
Tesla, which has EV factories in the US, China and Berlin, employs around 99,290 staff worldwide, so culling 10% of jobs could equate to losses approaching 10,000 people. The Austin,
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