San Francisco, June 2 (Reuters) – Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk said in an email to executives he saw on Reuters on Thursday that he had “very bad feelings” about the economy and wanted to cut about 10% of jobs in electric car makers.
The news came two days after the world’s richest employees were told to return to work or leave the company.
Tesla will employ about 100,000 people by the end of 2021, according to its annual SEC filing.
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Tesla was not immediately available for comment.
In an email entitled “Suspend All Employment Globally,” Musk said he had “very bad feelings” about the economy.
On Tuesday, Musk told employees to return to work or leave the company, which was already facing a request to have a new factory in Germany. read more
“Everyone at Tesla has to spend at least 40 hours a week in the office,” Musk wrote in the email.
“If you do not come, we will assume that you have resigned.”
Musk was involved in a Twitter feud on Thursday with Australian tech billionaire and Atlasian PLC. (TEAM.O) Co-founder Scott Farquhar mocked the order in a series of tweets saying it was “like it was in the 1950s”. read more
Musk tweeted: “Recessions play a key role in economic reform” in response to Farquhar’s tweet encouraging Tesla employees to look into its remote working conditions.
At the end of May, when asked by a Twitter user if the economy was approaching a recession, Musk said, “Yes, but it’s really a good thing. It’s been raining money on idiots for a long time.
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Editing by Honshu Jin, edited by John Stone Street and Mark Potter
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