Elon Musk email says Tesla sent ‘incorrectly low’ severance packages to laid-off employees

Tesla
CEO

Elon
Musk
sent
an
internal
email
on
Wednesday,
telling
staffers
that
the
company
sent
out
some
severance
packages
that
were
too
low
to
a
number
of
laid-off
workers
this
week.

“As
we
reorganize
Tesla
it
has
come
to
my
attention
that
some
severance
packages
are
incorrectly
low,”
Musk
wrote
in
the
brief
email. “My
apologies
for
this
mistake.
It
is
being
corrected
immediately.”

Tesla
didn’t
immediately
respond
to
a
request
for
comment.

The
electric
vehicle
company
said
Monday
that
it
would
be
cutting
more
than
10%
of
its
global
workforce,
which
totaled
around
140,000
employees
at
the
end
of
2023.

Few
details
have
been
shared
by
the
company
about
the
layoffs,
but
in
a
companywide
memo
sent
Monday,
Musk
said
the
layoffs
would
help, “prepare
the
company”
for
a “next
phase
of
growth.”

Earlier
this
month, Reuters
reported that
Tesla
would
be
shifting
its
strategy,
and
scrapping
an
earlier
plan
to
produce
a
more
affordable
EV
in
favor
of
focusing
on
robotaxi
development
at
Musk’s
direction.
On
Tuesday
this
week,
Musk
appeared
to
confirm
that
report
in
a post on
X.

Musk
hasn’t
yet
said
whether
Tesla
will
stick
with
his
2023 “master
plan,”
which
laid
out “a
proposed
path
to
reach
a
sustainable
global
energy
economy
through
end-use
electrification
and
sustainable
electricity
generation
and
storage.”

The
company
reported
an
8.5%
year-over-year
decline
in
first-quarter

deliveries,
the
first
drop
since
2020,
when
operations
were
disrupted
by
the
global
pandemic.

Tesla
is
set
to
discuss
first-quarter
results
with
shareholders
on
Tuesday
April
23,
and
executives
are
likely
to
reveal
more
about
the
restructuring
and
which
departments
were
most
impacted.

In
a
proxy
filing
out
Wednesday,

Tesla
asked
shareholders
to
approve
a
CEO
pay
package
for
Musk
that’s
equivalent
to
the
record
compensation
plan
the
company
previously
granted
him
in
2018.

His
earlier
CEO
pay
plan,
worth
$56
billion,
was
voided
in
a
ruling
by
Delaware
Chancery
Court
Judge
Kathaleen
McCormick,
who
decided
that,
as
CEO,
Musk
controlled
Tesla,
and
the
board’s
compensation
committee
wasn’t
independent,
among
other
factors.

Tesla
shares
have
dropped
about
37%
this
year
as
of
Wednesday,
closing
at
$155.45.