In a memo to employees, Musk said he'll be "flattening the management structure." The goal? "To improve communication, combining functions where sensible and trimming activities that are not vital to the success of our mission."
No details were offered. But the announcement came days after reports that Doug Field, the company's top vehicle and production design executive, was taking a six-week leave of absence. Field was reportedly sidelined this year when Musk announced he would be sleeping at the Fremont, Calif., factory and take direct charge of fixing Model 3 production problems.
At least nine other executives have left Tesla just in 2018, including Jim Keller, vice president of the Autopilot program, and Jon McNeill, head of global sales and service.
Musk told stock analysts in a May 2 earnings call that a reorganization was on the way, but no one pressed him for details. In the question and answer session that followed, Musk cut off two of the analysts in mid-sentence as they asked about other issues Musk said he considered "boring."
