Plant Tesla boss Elon Musk (50) a strong job cut despite full order books to prepare the US electric car manufacturer for an approaching recession in the USA? The back and forth about the future number of employees Tesla continued over the weekend: On Friday, Musk announced in an internal email that to reduce the number of permanent employees by 10 percent, because he has a “super bad feeling” with regard to the economic situation. On Saturday, Musk also announced on Twitter that the total number of employees at the electric car manufacturer should not decrease over the next twelve months, but increase.
However, Musk apparently aims to increase the use of flexible workers on an hourly basis. Despite the company’s ambitious growth plans, Musk remains cautious about permanent positions. “The total number of employees will increase, but the number of employees should remain pretty much the same,” Musk wrote. Translated, this means: fewer permanent jobs, more temporary work, more jobs on an hourly basis.
“Overstaffed in many areas”
In another email to executives, Musk wrote that Tesla would reduce the number of employees by 10% because the company was “overstaffed in many areas”. The number of “hourly employees” will increase.
At the end of 2021, the company employed around 100,000 people worldwide. The carmaker is currently ramping up production at its new plant in Grünheide, Germany, and has currently posted hundreds of jobs.
For example, around 5,000 Tesla jobs are open worldwide on the LinkedIn job platform, from salespeople in Tokyo to mechatronics technicians in Berlin to IT specialists in Palo Alto. An official announcement from the carmaker about the planned job cuts is not yet available.
Tesla stock under pressure
The Tesla boss’ worries about recession were not well received on the US stock exchange. the Shares
of the US group fell by almost 10 percent on Friday. Most recently, they had recovered significantly from their low since the summer of 2021 at around 650 US dollars.
Wall Street is already alarmed
Musk’s powerful warning of a possible recession and its consequences for automakers is the most direct and publicized forecast of its kind in the industry. Alarm is already on Wall Street. On Wednesday, JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon (66) before one warned of the approaching “hurricane”.. “The hurricane is out there and it’s coming towards us,” said the CEO of the largest bank in the world United States in the face of an impending recession.
Just a day later, the rival’s second-highest manager commented Goldman Sachs at least similarly alarmed. The global economy is being hit by a series of shocks at once, warned President and Chief Operating Officer John Waldron (50). “This is one of the most complex, if arguably the most complex and dynamic environment I have ever encountered in my career,” Waldron said at an investor conference.
The inflation rate in the United States is now 8.3 percent, the highest it has been in 40 years. The US Federal Reserve fed has already initiated a radical turnaround in interest rates to combat high inflation.
Tesla has threatened to fire employees who work from home
Earlier in the week, Musk urged staff to return to the office or leave the company. “Everyone at Tesla is required to be in the office at least 40 hours a week,” Musk wrote in an email he sent to his employees Tuesday night. “If you don’t show up, we’ll assume you’ve resigned.” For Musk, this would certainly be the cheaper way to get rid of part of the workforce, since Tesla would not have to pay any severance pay in this case.
Musk keeps causing confusion
The tech billionaire is known for his erratic behavior. Most recently, he worried about his takeover plans for the short message service Twitter for confusion. The currently richest man in the world originally wanted to pay around 44 billion US dollars for the company. A short time later, however, he put the takeover on hold – allegedly to check the number of fake accounts. the Twitter stock
he sent it downhill.
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In view of the lower share price, he then brought up a lower price for the short message service. It is therefore also speculated that Musk’s financing for the billion dollar deal is shaky. After all, the Tesla share has also come under pressure in the wake of the price slide on the Nasdaq. Musk originally wanted to take out loans for around $12 billion of the purchase price, which should be secured with his Tesla shares.
Record profit in the first quarter
In the first quarter of 2022, Tesla was still setting records in terms of profit, revenue and sales. Sales increased from $10.3 to $18.8 billion. Earnings of $3.3 billion were well above expectations. The operating margin, an important comparative value in the automotive industry, was an impressive 19.2 percent – and thus another 4.5 percentage points above the previous peak value from the final quarter of 2021. However, due to the rapidly increasing commodity prices, Tesla boss Musk warned that the Group is faced with significant inflationary pressures. Higher prices should cover the higher costs for the next six to 12 months, it said.