By Michael Elkins
On June 2, it was reported that an email was found to have said that Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk was looking to cut 10% of jobs and “pause all hiring worldwide”. Today, speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum organized by Bloomberg, Musk said the cuts would apply only to salaried workers, meaning a 3.5% reduction in total headcount, changes he described as "not super material". The electric vehicle maker said that the cuts would happen over three months.
His remarks were his most detailed explanation of job cut plans and his first in-person appearance since the email was reported.
Remotely addressing a conference in mid-May in Miami Beach, Musk said: "I think we are probably in a recession and that recession will get worse." He added: "It'll probably be some tough going for, I don't know, a year, maybe 12 to 18 months, is usually the amount of time that it takes for a correction to happen."
U.S. President Joe Biden reiterated on Monday that he felt a U.S. recession was not inevitable.
The CEO said on Tuesday that Tesla expected to increase the number of workers paid by the hour as opposed to the ones on fixed salaries.
He also said he was sticking with digital currency and intended to personally support Dogecoin.
A lawsuit was filed Thursday by Dogecoin investors alleging Musk and his companies violated federal law by inflating the price of the cryptocurrency. The lawsuit is seeking class-action status.