According to sources familiar with the matter, American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, which announced a global workforce reduction of over 10% last month, has reportedly carried out another round of layoffs recently.
Reported by the electric vehicle blog Electrek on Monday (May 6), several individuals with knowledge of the situation revealed that last Friday (May 3) to Sunday (May 5), employees from various departments received alarming “employment status” emails, including those from software, service, and engineering departments.
After Tesla announced a global workforce reduction of over 10% last month, last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk dismissed Rebecca Tinucci, the senior director of the Supercharger department, and Daniel Ho, the head of the new product department, while also disbanding the Supercharger department, which had 500 employees.
TechCrunch reported at the end of April that some departments at Tesla recently saw layoffs of up to 20%, with a global workforce reduction of 14,000 people, even including some high-performing employees being let go.
Musk previously posted on his social media platform X, stating that some reports related to the layoffs are inaccurate.
The company announced in a public notice last month that it would be laying off over 6,700 people in Texas, California, Nevada, and New York.
According to Reuters, Tesla revealed last month that it expects to incur over $350 million in accounting costs in the second quarter due to the large-scale layoffs. Analysts believe the company aims to focus on autonomous driving software, Robotaxi, and humanoid robot project Optimus, with Musk possibly cutting expenses from certain teams to preserve cash for these projects.
Tesla has been affected by cooling demand and competition from cheap imported vehicles from China, leading to a sharp decline in its stock price in 2024, with profits in the first quarter of this year dropping by over half compared to the same period last year.
In April, Tesla stated that it is developing affordable new vehicle models using existing platforms and production lines, a move aimed at better controlling capital expenditure.