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That’s according to a tweet from its ever-mercurial CEO Elon Musk — an apparent contradiction to two emails he sent staff last week about planned job cuts and a hiring freeze, which pushed Tesla shares lower.
Last Thursday, according to a Reuters report, Elon Musk sent an email to staff saying the company would freeze hiring as part of a move to cut staff by 10% — explaining that he has a “super bad feeling” about the economy.
He sent a follow-up email, according to Musk-centered site Tesmanian, elaborating that the company would increase hourly headcount but reduce “salaried headcount by 10%, as we have become overstaffed in many areas,” adding that :this does not apply to anyone actually building cars, battery packs or installing solar.”
Then, on Saturday, Musk tweeted that the company’s “total headcount will increase, but salaried should be fairly flat.” Yet hours later, Musk said on Twitter that the Tesmanian story was “accurate.”
It’s not clear whether Musk equates a 10% salaried headcount cut with “fairly flat”: As has long been the case at Tesla, it did not respond to a request for formal comment on the reported emails.
Reuters’ report about the email last week sent Tesla (TSLA) shares down 9% on Friday, but on Monday, they were up 2.8% in early trading on Musk’s sort-of walk-back. Another factor affecting the stock: Musk also threatened Monday to walk away from his proposed purchase of Twitter. Tesla shares have been hurt by Musk’s interest in Twitter (TWTR) as some investors have worried it would distract him from running the electric automaker, or force him to sell more Tesla shares to raise cash.
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