Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, previously told his staff via email on 3 June that he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy and informed his executives to “pause all hiring worldwide”, according to Reuters.
Following that, he added in a separate email that he intended to lay off 10% of salaried workers because the company was overstaffed, and it appears he has gone ahead with his plans.
Among the laid off workers was Christopher Bousigues, the country manager of Tesla Singapore; with Tesla Hong Kong overseeing the operations in Singapore moving forward.
He said in a LinkedIn post revealed his retrenchment that he moved to Singapore in 2021 for the role, sharing insights into his role which he has since lost.
Here is what he said
Tesla announced a 10% of workforce reduction. My role was chosen to be eliminated as of today.
Am proud to have been the company’s first country manager in South East Asia, and establishing the business in Singapore.
In the past year the team and I built the business from the ground up, made of the Model 3 a common sight in the Singapore car landscape, set up 2 showrooms, 1 service center (that I affectionately call the Jewel of Asia), developed a network of 7 superchargers across the island, and successfully launched Model Y yesterday with overwhelming response.
I wish to sincerely thank all those that have supported me on this journey.
When something like this happens, you wonder what is the best course of action, and whether to remain discreet or even silent about it. Ultimately that is not how I am built. Transparency and honesty are non-negotiable to me, so sharing this news felt like the right thing to do with my network. I profoundly believe that when a door closes, a gate somewhere else opens.
Since I relocated to Singapore strictly for this role, a move back to Europe and Southern France is most likely in the cards for my family and I. See you all after a well deserved summer break.