June 4 (Reuters) – Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), said on Saturday the electric vehicle maker’s total workforce is set to increase over the next 12 months, but the number of employees is unlikely to change as much according to an email just two days ago, he said a 10% job cut was needed.
“Total headcount will increase, but headcount should stay pretty flat,” Musk tweeted in response to an unconfirmed Twitter account that made a “prediction” that Tesla’s headcount would increase over the next 12 months.
Musk said in an email to Tesla executives on Thursday, seen by Reuters on Friday, that he has a “super bad feeling” about the US economy and needs to cut jobs by about 10%. Continue reading
In another email to employees on Friday, Musk said Tesla would cut its workforce by 10% because it was “overstaffed in many areas.” But “hourly headcount will increase,” he said.
Tesla shares fell 9.2% on the news on Friday.
The company and its subsidiaries employed nearly 100,000 people at the end of 2021, according to a Tesla filing in the United States.
Before his emails on staffing, Musk issued an ultimatum to Tesla employees in an email Wednesday to return to the office for at least 40 hours a week. A failure would be counted as a resignation, he wrote. Continue reading
Musk on Thursday said Tesla’s AI Day had been pushed back to Sept. 30 and said a prototype of Optimus, a humanoid robot that’s a priority for the company, should be ready by then and will be launched next year could. Read more
Reporting by Rachna Dhanrajani in Bengaluru; Adaptation by Leslie Adler
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