Tesla CEO Elon Musk had a "very bad feeling" about the global economy and the US economy in particular, and so he decided to cut about 10% of jobs at the American electric car manufacturer. This was reported in Reuters, referring to a corporate mailing list for Tesla directors.
Premonitions The mask will cost at least 10,000 people to be laid off, because Tesla and its subsidiaries employed almost 100,000 people at the end of 2021, according to the SEC's annual report.
Tesla shares fell nearly 3% in US premarket trading on Friday, while its Frankfurt-listed shares fell 3.6% following a Reuters report. US Nasdaq futures turned negative and traded down 0.6%.
In recent weeks, Musk has warned about the risk of a recession, but his email ordering the suspension of hiring and layoffs was the most direct and high-profile message of its kind from the head of an automaker.
So far, demand for Tesla and other electric vehicles has remained strong, and many of the traditional signs of an economic downturn, including dealer inventory buildup and stimulus in the United States, have not materialized.
"Musk's bad feeling is shared by many people," said Karsten Brzeski, head of global macroeconomics at Dutch bank ING. “But we are not talking about a global recession. We expect the world economy to cool down by the end of the year. The US will cool down, while China and Europe are not going to recover.”
Musk's dire outlook echoes recent comments from executives including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs president John Waldron.
Inflation in the United States is hovering at a 40-year high and has caused a jump in the cost of living for Americans, while the Federal Reserve faces the difficult task of containing demand enough to curb inflation without triggering a recession.
Musk, the world's richest man according to Forbes, did not elaborate on the reasons for his "super bad feeling" about the economic outlook in a short email that Reuters obtained.
At the end of May, when asked by a Twitter user if the economy was heading for a recession, Musk said: “Yes, but it's actually good. For too long, money has been pouring on fools. Several bankruptcies must occur.”
