Elon Musk must set a vision for Tesla after investors were spooked by high-profile departures amid layoffs, an analyst said.
Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said Wall Street needs to know “the rationale for cost cutting, the strategy to follow, the product roadmap and an overall vision from Musk” next week at the conference phone call with Tesla investors.
Ives highlighted the “gut-busting” loss of Drew Baglino, Tesla’s head of powertrain and electrical engineering, who said in an X article Monday that he made the “difficult decision” to leave the company after 18 years.
“He was instrumental in the Powertrain and Energy initiatives at Tesla and was seen by many as a key part of the Model 2 initiative over the next few years. Pressure on the stock today is exacerbated by the news of Baglino, which was very unexpected,” Ives said in a note to investors Monday.
Rohan Patel, vice president of public policy and business development, also announced his departure Monday. He wrote a long message about his departure and thanked Musk and his former colleagues: “The last 8 years at Tesla were filled with every emotion – but the feeling I have today is the greatest gratitude.”
Anthony Thurston, senior director of cathode materials and manufacturing at Tesla in Texas, was also fired, Electrek first reported.
Thurston, who led a team of 341 people, wrote in a LinkedIn post: “Today marks the end of an incredible journey at Tesla. I am grateful for all the opportunities and experiences that came my way during my time there.
Those who left Tesla worked on critical projects
Both Baglino and Thurston worked on critical projects at the Texas facility. Electrek reported that Musk was unhappy with progress at the facility, which supplies a material called cathode used in battery cells.
Fred Lambert, editor-in-chief of Electrek, declared on X that he understood that Amir Mirshahi, director of infrastructures, had also been fired.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The company’s shares are down 35% so far this year, and the decline was exacerbated after the company reported a 20% drop in first-quarter sales earlier this month, compared to the three final months of 2023. The decline in sales comes despite significant price cuts in recent months that have eroded profits.
In the staff memo announcing the layoffs, Musk said the job cuts were intended to help the company become “lean, innovative, and eager for the next phase of growth.
He also said that as Tesla has grown rapidly, there has been some “duplication” of roles. Tesla has more than doubled its workforce in recent years. It had 71,000 employees in 2020 and ended 2023 with 140,000, according to regulatory filings.
These departures come after the departure of financial director, Zachary Kirkhorn, last August after 13 years.
Tesla has also suffered other recent departures due to the war for AI talent. Ethan Knight, a machine learning scientist who worked on Autopilot, left to join Musk’s xAI.
In an X article earlier this month, Musk said Knight was “going to join OpenAI, so it was either xAI or them.”
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