this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2024
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[–] [email protected] 37 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (5 children)

Layoffs tend to precipitate big stock price jumps in my experience. Investors love job losses

[–] [email protected] 24 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

They do, to a point.

If it's a "trim" that is a vague percentage without any standout cuts in recognized people or groups, then good. If there are recognized names or groups, but they are people associated with widely known failures, like a team whose sole responsibility is a proven financial failure, good or even better. If you have people caught up in it who are well recognized for critical successes, then the investors won't be so bullish.

Here we see two groups seen as responsible for the key success factors of Tesla obliterated, with very little external signs of why this could be a rational move. The other layoffs might have been viewed well, even if some of them were also bad news, but I think these two will be viewed as bad news.

Also, this may be seen as a missed opportunity. Tesla established SC network as the premiere EV charging solution, and made it credibly cover other manufacturers, setting it up as independently valuable with it without Tesala. Tesla ditched the entire team, putting that at risk and taking on expenses to let go of those people for long term salary savings. A different business might have sold off the group intact, not only avoiding severance expense, but also getting a big check in the process from some other company. Keeping the "business" with none of the actual people is a bizarre move.

[–] SuperSpruce 16 points 6 months ago

Nailed it. This round of layoffs is not just "trimming a bloated labor force," it's cutting off investment into the future of Tesla as a company, which is a really bad business move when you had an advantage in the past but are now losing it. Turns out not only Musk is a filthy rich a-hole, he's also terrible at keeping businesses competitive. He absolutely needs to resign if Tesla wants to not fail.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Amazon has been trimming employee numbers for close to three years now. Any large layoffs now see a dip in stock, so most of the layoffs this year have been small-scale to not worry the investors.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 months ago

True, at some point investors switch from "good, they are improving efficiency" or "good, they are making way for higher quality hires" to "uhh, is there a problem? Are you going to keep going and risk going under some unknown critical threshold that will impact the health of your business?".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I imagine the rules are different for Amazon. It's just a regular corporation not a vanity project.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

Cutting the supercharger team could be a hedge for Musk personally. The stock tanking seems likely now, so not having this team makes them a less attractive acquisition.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 months ago

Tesla valuation is beyond comprehension, I don't want to touch it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Investors love job losses

Once again confirming how sociopathic the stock market can be.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

It’s because of the massive short term gains.

I made several thousand dollars in the stock market by buying stocks that announce layoffs. They almost always jump after the announcement unless it has to do with other circumstances like bankruptcy.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

They did more layoffs yesterday and the stock price went down lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Yeah but the longer term doesn't looks good.