Tesla Inc. managers in the U.S. have reportedly been asked which of their employees’ positions are critical, stoking fears the electric-car maker is considering layoffs.
According to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter, Tesla
TSLA,
sent out the single-line query for each job after canceling some employees’ performance reviews. The company did not return a request for comment.
In a December regulatory filing, Tesla said it had 140,473 employees worldwide. It said it had 127,855 workers as of December 2022, which was roughly 29,000 more employees than the previous year.
Tesla last month reported quarterly earnings that disappointed Wall Street. Investors took issue with the vagueness of its outlook, which called for potentially slower growth this year as compared with 2023.
See also: Tesla has ‘massively disappointed’ Wall Street: Here’s how one bull says it can get back on track
Demand for electric vehicles has cooled in recent months, leading carmakers to halt some of their investments in the area.
Tesla investors have particularly worried about the company’s slew of price cuts hitting profit margins, and the fact that the company would only refresh its lineup next year at the earliest, with the launch of a mass-market EV that has been dubbed the “Model 2.”
Tesla shares gained more than 2% on Wednesday, but have slumped more than 24% so far this year, contrasting with gains of about 5% for the S&P index
SPX.
The stock has lost nearly 5% in the past 12 months, versus a 20% gain for the broader equity index.
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