Tesla CEO Elon Musk today confirmed the previously leaked information that his company will lay off 9% of its workforce, as part of a “company-wide restructuring”. The layoffs will come “almost entirely” from salaried positions and will not include any of the production associates that build the company’s electric vehicles.
Tesla did not respond to requests for clarification regarding how many of its employees in its energy generation and storage division would be affected by press time, or questions regarding how many of those are involved in selling and installing solar PV.
Tesla recently estimated that it employs over 37,000 workers, meaning that roughly 3,300 will be laid off.
The email from Elon Musk also noted that Tesla has also not renewed its solar sales partnership with Home Depot, and going forward will focus on selling solar products through its stores and online.
This move may further diminish Tesla’s solar market share. After SolarCity was acquired by Tesla, the company moved sales from door-to-door to primarily through retail outlets. This was accompanied by a 2/3 collapse in solar installation levels, and the pull-back of Tesla and Vivint including a change in sales practices has been cited as a major factor in the 16% decrease in the U.S. residential solar market in 2017.
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