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posted by martyb on Friday June 15 2018, @05:38AM   Printer-friendly
from the decimates==one-in-ten dept.

Tesla to fire 9% (almost one in ten) of its workforce:

El Reg has a compelling between-the-lines reading

Tesla is cutting nine per cent of its workforce in a "comprehensive organizational restructuring", according to an internal email sent by its CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday.

While that email was sent only to employees, Musk then tweeted the full text immediately afterwards and it is clear that the missive was designed to be read by external critics and worried investors.

[...] It goes on: "As part of his effort, and the need to reduce costs and become profitable, we have made the difficult decision to let go of approximately 9 per cent of our colleagues across the company."

The email then shifted in tone and notes that the cuts will not impact the company's delayed production schedule for its latest car model: "These cuts were almost entirely made from our salaried population and no production associates were included, so this will not affect our ability to reach Model 3 production targets in the coming months."

[...] Musk addresses that very real issue of running out of money and finding it hard to find people to put in more cash in the last paragraph of his email. But, of course, he can't stop himself from doing so in typical arrogant fashion, even employing the royal "we" in his apparent recognition of reality.

"Given that Tesla has never made an annual profit in the almost 15 year since we have existed, profit is obviously not what motivates us. 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. That is a valid and fair criticism of Tesla's history to date."

The news is the first sign that Musk has had little choice but to respond to his investors' concerns, no doubt because he realizes he will need to go to them again soon for more cash.


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  • (Score: 5, Touché) by takyon on Friday June 15 2018, @05:51AM (4 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday June 15 2018, @05:51AM (#693350) Journal

    Congratulations on almost getting the archaic definition of "decimate" right. But one in 9 is not one in 10.

    Psst. 9% is closer to one in 11.

    - Fellow Pedant

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    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @07:14AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @07:14AM (#693364)

    His smile looked nothing so much as that of an angel's. The man, Nortonson, was profoundly kind and was respected all throughout his community. But, sometimes, this excessively kind man would get just a teensy bit too rough; when that happened, things began to break. Today was such a day. Broken objects surrounded Nortonson, and all of them had a similar shape.

    "I want my m-"

    The thing's sentence was cut off by a snapping sound; it never uttered a word ever again. "Oopsie daisy! There goes another one!" the man said in a carefree tone. Silly old Nortonson had applied too much force once again. He looked around for the next object, but discovered that they were all gone. Disappointed, the man left the building to retrieve more. Nortonson had left so many things behind. So many children.

    The naked, broken children the man left behind would all rot away in the coming months. It was a natural and beautiful process that could bring a smile to anyone's face.

  • (Score: 4, Informative) by kazzie on Friday June 15 2018, @08:50AM (2 children)

    by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 15 2018, @08:50AM (#693392)

    Psst. 9% is closer to one in 11.

    And El Reg correctly said "Tesla undecimates its workforce" in its title (c.f. undecagon [mathopenref.com])

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday June 15 2018, @11:18AM (1 child)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Friday June 15 2018, @11:18AM (#693432)

      Any fans of the Adam Sandler movie "Bedtime Stories" should instantly recognize the term: under-demeciated.

      --
      🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @04:56PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @04:56PM (#693572)

        i guess its better than over-medicated?