Tesla CEO Elon Musk is getting an outpouring of support for his company and its mission from workers the chief executive recently fired to cut company costs, Bloomberg reported.
Musk cut nine percent of Tesla’s workforce Tuesday in an effort to make the electric car company profitable for the first time in its nearly 15-year existence. (RELATED: Tesla Is Cutting A Tenth Of Its Workforce)
Roughly 3,000 people lost their jobs in the purge but instead of slamming the company, many left Tesla agreeably and thanked Musk for the opportunity and experience, according to tweets and testimonies reviewed by Bloomberg.
“The people thanking Elon for the opportunity to work there are authentic. It’s unprecedented,” venture capital firm Loup Ventures managing partner Gene Munster told Bloomberg. “One of Tesla’s secret weapons is the shared vision of clean energy, as well as how much people believe in Elon Musk and his leadership. It’s a unique asset for Tesla.”
Musk and Tesla still earned many detractors, as well, and separation agreements may keep more aggressive critics silent.
Tesla has been dogged by production issues and failed to meet goals set by its CEO. Musk has set his latest mark at hitting 5,000 Model 3s a week by the end of June 2018. He claimed in a shareholder meeting on June 5 that the company was on track to meet its goal, producing 3,500 cars a week at the time, The Verge reported.
Musk may be overstating his numbers, however. Bloomberg has built its own tracker, determining the level of production by scouring and recording Model 3 Vehicle Identification Numbers. Bloomberg places Tesla’s production level at under 3,000-a-week. (RELATED: Elon Musk Keeps Insisting Tesla Will Be Profitable One Day)
“Given that Tesla has never made an annual profit in the almost 15 years since we have existed, profit is obviously not what motivates us,” Musk said in his company email announcing the staff cuts. “What drives us is our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable, clean energy, but we will never achieve that mission unless we eventually demonstrate that we can be sustainably profitable.”
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