Elon Musk says Tesla factory was sabotaged by disgruntled employee
What's the story
Tesla isn't having the greatest of spells. After one of their cars caught fire in LA some days back, it now seems that the company has a saboteur. Or at least, Elon Musk believes so. In a mail sent to all employees late on Sunday night, Musk declared that "extensive" damage had been caused in the Tesla factory by a disgruntled employee. Here's more.
Details
Employee sabotaged operations because he didn't get a promotion
The "extensive" damage Musk wrote about included "making direct code changes to the Tesla Manufacturing Operating System under false usernames and exporting large amounts of highly sensitive Tesla data to unknown third parties". Musk said that the saboteur had admitted to the aforementioned wrongdoings. The employee allegedly sabotaged operations because he didn't receive a promotion. Further, Musk also suspects foul play by competitors.
Crucial time
The sabotage comes at a crucial time for Tesla
Musk's suspicions of sabotage come at a crucial time - Tesla is in the midst of a broad restructuring that will see 9% of its employees laid off. Tesla is also ramping up production to meet its 5,000 Model 3s per week target, and is in the midst of a profit drive as it looks to turn profitable by the second half of 2018.
Foul play?
Musk suspects foul play by Wall Street short-sellers, oil industry
Understandably, Musk suspects "there may be considerably more to this situation than meets the eye", considering that there are "a long list of organizations that want Tesla to die". These, in Musk's words, include "Wall Street short-sellers, who have already lost billions of dollars", "oil and gas companies", as well as "big gas/diesel car company competitors". He also advised employees to be "extremely vigilant".