Report: Musk wants to cut 10% of jobs at Tesla, pause hiring

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to cut 10% of jobs at the electric vehicle company, according to a report from Reuters Friday.

Reuters said this stems from a Thursday email from Musk to executives, where Musk wrote he had a "super bad feeling" about the current economy.

The email was titled "pause all hiring worldwide," according to the news outlet.

This comes after Musk gave Tesla employees an ultimatum, saying return to work in person for 40 hours per week or resign. This message also originated from emails from Musk, reports from Reuters and Electrek stated.

Wednesday, Musk replied to people asking about the rise in work-from-home jobs on Twitter, to which he responded, "They should pretend to work somewhere else."

Nearly two months ago, Musk hosted a grand opening party for the Travis County gigafactory, saying Tesla's global headquarters will be located right here in Texas. In December 2021, Musk said the massive factory will create at least 20,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs.

Earlier this year, inflation in the U.S. soared to a 40-year high, with the Labor Department reporting in April its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March 2022 compared to March 2021 — the biggest year-over-year increase since December 1981.