Tesla shares tumbled more than 7% Friday on a report that CEO Elon Musk is considering laying off 10% of the company's workers, as well as new questions from U.S. regulators over complaints of the electric vehicles braking for no reason.
In an email Thursday to Tesla executives titled “pause all hiring worldwide," Musk wrote that he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy and that the company needed to cut staff, Reuters reported.
In a May filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla said it had 100,121 employees worldwide, including its subsidiaries.
Tesla shares have lost nearly one-third of their value since early April, shortly after Musk first publicly floated the idea of buying Twitter.
Tesla shares fell $55.66, or 7.2%, to $719.34 in early trading Friday. Shares were trading around $1,150 just two months ago.
Also Friday, government regulators reported that more than 750 Tesla owners have complained that cars operating on the automaker’s partially automated driving systems have suddenly stopped on roadways for no apparent reason.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed the number in a detailed information request letter to Tesla that was posted on the agency’s website.
It’s the fourth formal investigation of the Texas automaker in the past three years, and NHTSA is supervising 23 Tesla recalls since January of 2021.
