Tesla Firing More Than 10% Of Its Workers

Tesla is laying off more than 10% of its global workforce — a move CEO Elon Musk called a “difficult decision” for the company as it grapples with falling sales amid an intensifying price war for electric vehicles.

Tesla has begun to feel the impact of slowing demand for EVs. I Photo: Tesla X

According to the company’s latest annual report, it touted 140,473 staffers as of December 2023, Shannon Thaler reported for the New York Post. A reduction of more than 10% means that at least 14,047 employees of the world’s largest electric automaker are set to get a pink slip.

“As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,” Tesla chief Elon Musk wrote.

“As part of this effort, we have done a thorough review of the organization and made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by more than 10% globally,” he added in the memo, which was first reported by tech publication Electrek.

Last month, Tesla reduced production at the Gigafactory in Shanghai and last week Tesla told employees who work on the Cybertruck that shifts will be shorter on the production line at the Austin.

Tesla has begun to feel the impact of slowing demand for electric vehicles (EVs).

Musk has recently denied reports that the company has scrapped plans to produce an inexpensive car, which has been one of his longstanding goals to make affordable EVs for the masses, Shiona McCallum reported for BBC News.

Tesla reported earlier this month that it delivered 386,810 vehicles globally in the first three months of 2024 — down more than 9% from the 422,875 vehicle sales in the first quarter of last year.

The number came in well below Wall Street’s expectations of 457,000 deliveries.