FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Tesla chief executive Elon Musk told top managers he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy and that the electric carmaker needed to cut staff by around 10%, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.
The email, titled “pause all hiring worldwide”, was sent to Tesla executives on Thursday, and underscored an increasingly gloomy economic outlook for the globe, as prices soar and war in Ukraine passed its 100th day.
The message from Musk came shortly after Jamie Dimon, Chairman and Chief Executive of JPMorgan Chase, described the challenges facing the U.S. economy as akin to a “hurricane”.
REACTIONS:
“Musk’s bad feeling is shared by many people,” said Carsten Brzeski, global head of macroeconomic research at Dutch bank ING.
“We’re talking about stagnation and a global economy which has to go through significant structural change, such as decarbonisation, deglobalisation and adjusting to older societies.”
“But we are not talking about global recession. We expect a cooling of the global economy towards the end of the year. The U.S. will cool off, while China and Europe are not going to rebound.”
“Laying off workers, however, is not the best reaction. We will need skilled workers more than ever in the future. This could turn into firing and then hiring,” he said.
(Reporting by John O’Donnell; Editing by Mark Potter)
