Tesla to lay off more than 10% of global workforce amid falling sales

globalnews.ca:

Tesla will lay off more than 10 per cent of its global workforce, an internal memo seen by Reuters on Monday shows, as it grapples with falling sales and an intensifying price war for electric vehicles (EVs).

In a sign of further instability at the EV maker, Tesla’s senior vice president Drew Baglino, in charge of battery development, announced his resignation on X on Monday. Bloomberg reported that Rohan Patel, vice-president for public policy and business development, had also resigned.

Both Baglino and Patel were no longer available on Tesla’s internal system, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. Baglino was one of four members in Tesla’s leadership team listed on the company’s investor relations website that includes CEO Elon Musk.

Their departures “signal that Tesla’s major growth phase is meeting serious headwinds,” said Michael Ashley Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital Advisors, deeming it “the larger negative signal today” than the announcement of job cuts.

The world’s largest automaker by market value had 140,473 employees globally as of December 2023, its latest annual report shows. The memo did not say how many jobs would be affected.

Some staff in California and Texas have already been notified of layoffs, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject.

“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,” Musk said in the memo.

“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