U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla will lay off 10% of its international workforce this week, according to an internal memo from CEO Elon Musk.
In the memo, Mr. Musk says that because the company has grown so fast, it has created redundancies and must make adjustments to remain productive.
“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,” Mr. Musk wrote. “There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done. This will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle.”
Mr. Musk didn’t elaborate on what areas of the company would experience cuts. As of late last year, Tesla had 140,473 employees, meaning the cuts could be as high as 14,000.
The cuts come during a terrible 2024 for the car giant. While Tesla was once the king of the EV market, slowing demand and increased competition have diminished the company’s lead. Recently, Chinese EV maker BYD replaced Tesla as the top-selling EV manufacturer, and Tesla reported its first annual decline in deliveries for the first quarter of 2024.
Tesla has blamed supply chain issues for some of its financial woes, including attacks from Houthi rebels in the Red Sea and an eco-terror attack at its Berlin Gigafactory.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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