Tesla to cut 10% salaried employees: Musk

Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive is set to cut 10% of the carmaker's salaried workforce according to an email he addressed to staff on Friday. These job cuts will not affect employees who build cars or batteries or who install solar panels. Mr. Musk has also told the staff that the number of hourly employees will increase. He said, "Tesla will be reducing salaried headcount by 10 percent, as we have become overstaffed in many areas."

The news was reported earlier by Reuters, citing a different mail that Musk had only sent to executives. Tesla's share price closed on Friday down about 9% after that article was published. As sales have surged and the company builds new factories, Tesla's staff has grown substantially. Two new factories were opened this year near Berlin and Austin, Texas. The company employed more than 99,000 workers at the end of last year. Just two years earlier, Tesla had 48,000.

Neither Mr. Musk nor Tesla has responded for a comment. Earlier this week, Mr. Musk told employees at Tesla and SpaceX, that they were expected to spend at least 40 hours a week at their offices. He said, "The more senior you are, the more visible must be your presence. That is why I spent so much time in the factory — so that those on the line could see me working alongside them. If I had not done that, SpaceX would long ago have gone bankrupt." 

Source: The New York Times