SF Chronicle – Elon Musk announces fresh layoffs at Tesla, going ‘hard core about headcount’
Editors note: Three key execs jumped ship in the last few weeks, 14,000+ employees laid off, plus the CFO left in August. And today it is announced that two additional key execs are pushed out along with hundreds of subordinates. Rebecca Tinucci was the senior director of Tesla’s Supercharger division and the highest ranking woman executive at Tesla. The Supercharger has been Tesla’s greatest success and other EV manufactures have had to adapt to its standard. It has also been key in Tesla sales because having many chargers alleviates range anxiety. Daniel Ho was the head of the new vehicles program and was with Tesla for almost 11 years after being at Ford for over 12 years. If Tesla was going to bring out a new lower cost Tesla then Ho would have been the one doing it.
Full original article by Aidin Vaziri and Roland Li of SF Chronicle
Elon Musk reportedly enacted a fresh round of layoffs at Tesla on Tuesday, cutting jobs that included the entire supercharger team, telling senior managers “we need to be absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction.”
After expressing dissatisfaction with declining sales and slow-paced downsizing efforts in an email, the CEO terminated two executives: Rebecca Tinucci, senior director of Tesla’s Supercharger division, and Daniel Ho, head of the new vehicles program. Approximately 500 employees under their supervision will also be let go, the company said.
“Hopefully these actions are making it clear that we need to be absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction,” Musk wrote in the email obtained by The Information. “While some on exec staff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so.”
As part of the announcement, Musk also disbanded Tesla’s public policy team, led by former executive Rohan Patel.
These layoffs follow Musk’s previously announced initiative to reduce the global workforce by at least 10%, affecting around 14,000 employees based on the 2023 headcount.
Ho, who joined Tesla in 2013 as a program manager involved in developing the Model S, 3 and Y, gradually assumed responsibility for overseeing all new vehicle projects. Tinucci joined the company in 2018 as a senior product manager. Both executives are based in the Bay Area.
Tesla recently reported a 9% revenue decline to $21.3 billion in the first quarter, the most significant drop in over a decade, missing analyst projections. Despite a 5.5% increase in after-hours trading, Tesla’s shares have plummeted by over 41% this year.
But shares of Tesla stock rallied Monday after Musk paid a surprise visit to Beijing over the weekend and reportedly won tentative approval for its driving software.
The latest job cuts coincide with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement that Tesla will open its supercharging network to all electric vehicles in California, following the California Energy Commission’s approval of a $1.9 billion plan to expand the state’s charging infrastructure.
Full original article by Aidin Vaziri and Roland Li of SF Chronicle
