Written by Cláudio Afonso | [email protected] | LinkedIn | X
Tesla‘s Head of Product Rich Otto announced on Wednesday that he has resigned in the first days of May after nearly 7 years at the company.
In a LinkedIn post, Tesla‘s now-former Head of Product, Rich Otto, expressed concerns over the company’s recent layoffs, stating that they “are rocking the company” and have disrupted its morale, throwing harmony out of balance and making it difficult to see the long-term vision.
Otto, who joined Tesla in September 2017 as a senior specialist of Communications and Press Fleet, had previously spent 1.5 years at the EV startup Faraday Future.
During his time at Tesla, he served as a program manager for various Tesla events, including the launch of the Cybertruck in November, the grand opening of GigaTexas, and the initial deliveries of the Model Y in April 2022.
On LinkedIn, Otto highlighted his role in managing over 100 employees from 12+ teams to execute the Tesla Cybertruck production and delivery event, while also overseeing the web launch and personally handling all media reviews.
LinkedIn Post
“After nearly 7 years, last week I resigned from Tesla. Why leave? It’s a company I love and that has given me so much, but has also taken its pound of flesh.
Great companies are made up of equal parts great people and great products, and the latter are only possible when its people are thriving. The recent layoffs that are rocking the company and its morale have thrown this harmony out of balance and it’s hard to see the long-game. It was time for a change.
There’s a lot that I’ll miss about Tesla — its people being #1. I was lucky enough to work across many of the engineering, design, manufacturing, creative, and sales teams that make our cars possible, and I’ve loved the opportunity to lead how we introduced these products to the world.
What makes Tesla special is its collaborate-with-anyone culture: it means that great ideas and influence can come from anyone, and is a catalyst for employees to stretch outside their comfort zone, take on massive projects, and thrive.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to teach me something over the last 7 years. I learned so much, and hopefully, you learned a thing or two from me in return.
I’m hopeful that Tesla — and all of the employees affected by these layoffs — can get back on their feet soon. If there’s anything I can do to help, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’ll be taking a quick break and then jumping back in to figure out what’s next for me. If you see anything cool – hit me up! Oh, and what am I not going to miss? Definitely not the coffee,” he concluded.
Earlier this week, Tesla started a new round of layoffs warning some of its teams that May 5 marked their last day at the company. From last Friday until Sunday, the company sent out an email informing the teams about their final employment day although the scale of the reduction is yet unknown.
One of the employees affected shared today that received an email on Sunday saying Tesla notified her “that May, 5 would be the final day of employment with the company as part of an overall Company Reduction”. The reduction marks the third round since the 10 percent cut announced in April.
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Tom Zhu, Tesla’s Senior Vice President of Automotive, is reportedly set to return to China as Vice President for the market, as shared by several automotive bloggers on local social media platform Weibo.
Zhu had left this position in August last year to move to Texas as Senior Vice President of Automotive, overseeing global manufacturing, sales, delivery, and service operations.
Last week, both Rebecca Tinucci, Sr Director of charging at Tesla, and Daniel Ho, Director of Vehicle Programs and New Product Introduction (NPI), left the company. Daniel joined Tesla in November 2013 as Model S Program Manager.
Tinucci joined 6 years ago and all the 500 people reporting to her will also be laid off, as well as the entire public policy team previously under Rohan Patel.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | [email protected] | LinkedIn | X
