Tesla CEO Elon Musk has fired two senior executives and intends to cut hundreds more jobs due to his dissatisfaction with declining sales and the speed of workforce reductions, a report by Reuters quoting The Information says. The report by The Information cites an email from Musk to senior managers. The report states that Rebecca Tinucci, head of Tesla’s Supercharger division, and Daniel Ho, leader of the new vehicles program, will depart on Tuesday morning.
Musk also plans to terminate the entire teams working under Tinucci and Ho, including approximately 500 employees in the Supercharger group, The Information reported.
The number of employees working for Ho was not specified. Additionally, the report indicates that Tesla’s public policy team, formerly led by Rohan Patel, will be eliminated.
In the email, Musk wrote, “Hopefully these actions are making it clear that we need to be absolutely hard core about headcount and cost reduction. While some on exec staff are taking this seriously, most are not yet doing so.” As of the end of 2023, Tesla had a global workforce of 140,473 employees. The company did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
According to their LinkedIn profiles, Ho joined Tesla in 2013 and served as a program manager in the development of the Model S, 3, and Y before being appointed to oversee all new vehicles. Tinucci joined the company in 2018 as a senior product manager. Earlier this month, two other senior leaders, Patel and battery development chief Drew Baglino, announced their departures, coinciding with Tesla’s order to lay off more than 10% of its workforce.
Tesla is currently facing challenges related to declining sales and an intensifying price war, which resulted in the company’s first quarterly revenue decline since 2020, as reported last week. During a surprise visit to Beijing on Sunday, Musk made progress towards introducing Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance package in China, the center of the EV price war.
This trip occurred just over a week after he canceled a planned visit to India, where Tesla has long sought to establish operations, citing “very heavy Tesla obligations.”
