U.S.-based electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla is laying off nine percent of its employees to reduce costs and become profitable, according to co-founder and CEO Elon Musk.
Musk took to Twitter to post images of an email he wrote to employees, after the letter had “already leaked to media.”
The email claims that the cuts are part of a “restructuring across the whole company.”
“What drives us is our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable, clean energy, but we will never achieve that mission unless we eventually demonstrate that we can be sustainably profitable,” reads an excerpt from the email penned by Musk.
The email further states the cuts are a a result of the fact that the company’s rapid growth has led to the “duplication of roles and some job function.”
Difficult, but necessary Tesla reorg underway. My email to the company has already leaked to media. Here it is unfiltered: pic.twitter.com/4LToWoxScx
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 12, 2018
Musk clarified that the job cuts will affect Tesla’s salaried positions, not the company’s production associates.
“These cuts were almost entirely made from our salaried population and no production associates were included, so this will not affect our ability to reach Model 3 production targets in the coming months,” wrote Musk.
According to Tesla’s fourth quarter 2017 investors report, the company employed 37,543 full-time employees as of December 31st, 2017.
As such, approximately 3,400 people will be laid off as a result of these cuts.
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