What's That Musk-y Smell? Layoffs At Tesla

Tesla will layoff 10% of its workforce, according to the crashing car company's egomaniacal CEO Elon Musk. That's roughly 14,000 people according to the company's employment numbers in December 2023. From CNBC:

"Tesla will lay off more than 10% of its global workforce, according to a memo sent to employees by CEO Elon Musk.

Shares were down about .5% in premarket trading Monday.

'As we prepare the company for our next phase of growth, it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the company for cost reductions and increasing productivity,' Musk said in the memo obtained by CNBC.

'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,' the memo said."

You can be sure that the erratic Musk won't dip into his own mega-billion wallet to cushion the blow to his company. Earlier this year, a court ruled that his outrageous $56 billlion compensation package was void. More:

"Tesla shares have taken a bruising in recent months, down 31% year-to-date amid waning demand for electric vehicles and stiffening competition from Chinese automakers, which benefit from Beijing subsidies. One of these rivals, BYD, last year wrested Tesla's mantle to become the world's largest seller of EVs...[snip]

The U.S. company earlier this month reported its first annual decline in vehicle deliveries since 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted production extraneous of demand — first-quarter deliveries fell by 8.5% on the year to 386,810 in the first quarter..."  (our emphasis)

Tesla investors have complained that Musk's right-wing views, which he states on his troubled "X" social media site, have offended some potential buyers, and that his focus on his social media site has come at the expense of overseeing Tesla. In other words, much of the problem Tesla's facing originates with Musk as one would expect.