On April 19th, Tesla officially announced a 10% reduction in its workforce. Simultaneously, two key executives who reported directly to CEO Elon Musk have departed.
According to internal organizational charts obtained by tech media outlet The Information, at least 35 executives now report directly to Musk. Newly appointed individuals include key executives overseeing energy, public policy, and business development, as well as the North American sales director and Viv Hantusch, a senior content specialist for Tesla's X accounts.
From this organizational chart, it's evident that Musk has taken over the team formerly led by Drew Baglino. Baglino, who served as Senior Vice President of Powertrain and Energy Engineering at Tesla for 18 years, departed from the company last Sunday. In this team, two individuals report directly to Musk: Rebecca Tinucci, Senior Vice President responsible for charging infrastructure, and Bonne Eggleston, Senior Manager of Tesla's 4680 battery project.
Moreover, the organizational chart reveals a new structure for the policy and business development team. Initially led by Rohan Patel, a former advisor to President Barack Obama who joined Tesla in 2017, Patel also left the company last Sunday.
According to Tesla's organizational chart, Patel's responsibilities are now shared among Government Relations and Policy Director Brooke Kintz, Business Development Director Hasan Nazar, and Patrick Bean. Some regional managers and specialist policy leads now report directly to Musk himself instead of Kintz.
However, the chart does not include Ashok Elluswamy, Director of Autopilot Software, and Milan Kovac, Director of Tesla Robotics and Autonomous Driving Engineering, even though they report directly to Musk. Yet, these two key figures appear inclined to remain at Tesla and continue reporting to Musk, who maintains a keen interest in the company's AI efforts.
Recently, a departing Tesla employee revealed that over the past few months, staff have been unable to access the organizational chart for the Autopilot department, possibly as a measure against poaching by competitors.
Another notable change since the last organizational chart update is Musk's direct oversight of sales operations in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He leads Troy Jones, Vice President of Sales and Service for North America, and Joe Ward, Vice President for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Ward briefly reported to Zhu Xiaotong, Senior Vice President of Automotive, last spring before Zhu was promoted to oversee automotive manufacturing and global sales.
Additionally, the updated organizational chart features Omead Afshar, a long-time aide to Musk, who now serves as Senior Manager of the CEO's Office and the Texas Gigafactory. Afshar previously oversaw the construction of Tesla's Texas factory and joined SpaceX in 2022 after an investigation into company resource use. However, according to The Information, he was spotted weeks ago back at Tesla's Texas Gigafactory site.
