Electric-car maker Tesla is entering a hiring freeze and plans to lay off a number of staff early in the coming year, according to a recent report.
Electrek, a website for electric vehicles, reported the news Wednesday citing a source familiar with the matter.
"Tesla has told employees that it is implementing a hiring freeze and confirmed that another wave of layoffs is coming next quarter," the outlet reported.
CEO Elon Musk has reportedly given different reasons to different people for the layoffs, including that he has a "very bad feeling" about the economy, according to Electrek.
"Tesla has communicated to some employees that it is stopping hiring for now. On top of the hiring freeze, Tesla also said that teams will be expected to make layoffs during the first quarter of 2023," per the outlet.
It wasn't immediately clear how deep the cuts will go or which jobs are in jeopardy. The company has yet to comment publicly on the report.
Musk has been selling off his shares of the company all year. In total, he's sold more than 94.2 million shares of the electric vehicle company at an average price of $243.46 per share, financial research firm VerityData reported. Those shares had a pretax price of $22.93 billion.
Since Musk took over Twitter in October, Tesla shares have ben dropping. In November, shares dipped to their lowest level since 2021, closing at $197.08 -- and they've continued to tank since. On December 20, shares reached a new 52-week low closing around $138.
Reports indicate that investors are worried about the billionaire spreading himself too thin among several high-profile ventures and would prefer him to focus on the car company, which is struggling with lower demand and lingering supply chain troubles.
Investment Advisor Ross Gerber tweeted that "Tesla stock price now reflects the value of having no CEO. Great job tesla BOD - Time for a shake up."
The comment caught Musk's attention, who responded that Gerber should "Go back and read your old Securities Analysis 101 textbook."
"As bank savings account interest rates, which are guaranteed, start to approach stock market returns, which are *not* guaranteed, people will increasingly move their money out of stocks into cash, thus causing stocks to drop," Musk said.
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