Electric automotive giant Tesla is cutting 14,000 jobs as sales have been slowing.

Billionaire Elon Musk’s eco-friendly electric car company announced the redundancies, as reported by Elektrek.

Musk cuts staff via memo

Elon Musk reportedly contacted staff and the memo made it’s way to the mainstream media. Elektrek published the memo Musk compiled that earmarked the car manufacturer cutting 10% of its workforce.

“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. 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,” Musk would tell the axed staff.

Tesla employs 140,473 people according to the company’s annual report and this workforce has endured signs of a potential cut for a while.

Musk’s statement would conclude flatly “For those remaining, I would like to thank you in advance for the difficult job that remains ahead. We are developing some of the most revolutionary technologies in auto, energy, and artificial intelligence. As we prepare the company for the next phase of growth, your resolve will make a huge difference in getting us there.”

As Bloomberg reported, Tesla canceled stock bonuses and performance reviews across the past year. The merit-based stock awards were canceled, but employees seen a salary bump to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. This was despite Musk’s controversial statements at the Deal Book summit last November. Most notably stock options were mentioned.

Musk said “The challenge is: How do we retain great people to do the hard work of building cars when they have, like, six other opportunities that they can do that are easier?

“We certainly try hard to ensure the prosperity of everyone. We give everyone stock options.”

Musk also publicly entered the bidding war with rival artificial intelligence (AI) companies this month. We reported that the billionaire took to X to talk about the need to snap up high-profile experts on massive salaries to keep their heads in the competition to be the top American AI solutions provider.

So the times have certainly changed for the car maker, with the man who appeared in the Top 10 of the Forbes Rich List making a hash of his commitment to “everyone” at Tesla in the space of a few months.

Tesla hopes to have things back on the road to recovery when April 23rd’s quarterly profits report rolls around.

Image: Ideogram

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