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New major purge to come from a North American tech heavyweight? After Amazon, Meta and Netflix, Tesla is expected to be the next to launch a wave of layoffs. The electric car manufacturer has informed its employees that it intends to freeze hiring and part with some of its employees during the first quarter of 2023, according to a source close to the matter quoted by the American media. Electrek.
The extent of this cut is not yet known, as Tesla must ramp up its new factories in Austin (Texas) and Berlin (Germany). Last June, the boss of Tesla assured that these new production sites “lose billions of dollars” due to difficulties in obtaining battery power and port problems in China.
Elon Musk wanted to lay off 10% of the workforce
At that time, there was already talk of laying off employees. Elon Musk had told the company’s executives that he wanted to pause recruitment and lay off 10% of the company’s staff, or nearly 10,000 employees, due to a “very bad feeling” on the economy. “How can we keep factories running to pay people and not go bankrupt? », he asked Tesla owners in Silicon Valley. It would be a screeching halt for Tesla, which grew from 48,000 to 93,000 employees between 2019 and 2021, according to Statista.
While the current economic context does not encourage optimism, it therefore seems that Elon Musk has decided to take action, having already distinguished himself at the end of the year by obliging half of the employees of Twitter to make their boxes after acquiring the social network. Very busy managing his new toy, although he announced this week that he will leave his post as boss of Twitter, the multi-billionaire has raised concern among some shareholders.
Rebellion rumbles among Tesla shareholders
In their eyes, the whimsical entrepreneur disperses himself a little too much in his multiple activities, especially since he has continued to sell billions of dollars of Tesla shares to finance the takeover of Twitter (44 billion dollars) . At the same time, the e-vehicle maker’s stock fell sharply.
Tesla’s market capitalization has thus collapsed by 40% in the past two months, and even more than 60% going back to last April. What strongly irritate the shareholders of the company which begins to openly criticize the attitude of the leader… “Elon abandoned Tesla and Tesla doesn’t have a functioning CEO”even tweeted Leo Koguan, a major Tesla stock portfolio holder: “Are we just Elon’s silly bag carriers?” A Tim Cook type executor is needed. In this context, the start of the year 2023 promises to be explosive for Elon Musk.