What just happened? Musk also revealed that Tesla has decided not to renew its residential sales agreement with Home Depot and will instead focus on selling solar power in Tesla stores and online.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday published an internal e-mail recently sent to staff members in which he shares details regarding the company's reorganization efforts.
In it, Musk reveals that Tesla is cutting nine percent of its global workforce. The cuts, which focus almost exclusively on salaried employees, do not include any production associates and thus will not affect the company's Model 3 production targets over the coming months.
Tesla has grown and evolved rapidly over the past several years, Musk said, which has resulted in the duplication of some roles and job functions. While they may have made sense in the past, they're difficult to justify today, he added.
The criticality of each position was evaluated to determine if certain jobs could be done more efficiently and productively, Musk said, adding that Tesla also assessed the specific skills and abilities of each individual within the company. Those who are being let go are being informed of the change this week, we're told, and will be offered salary and stock options based on how long they were with the company.
The executive noted that Tesla has never made an annual profit in its nearly 15-year history and that profit is not what motivates them. Their goal, he continued, is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable, clean energy, but it's a mission they will never achieve unless Tesla eventually demonstrates it can turn a profit.
"That is a valid and fair criticism of Tesla's history to date," Musk said.