Elon Musk apologizes after Tesla gave 'incorrectly low' severance packages to some laid-off workers: report

Musk reportedly said it was 'being corrected immediately'

Some recently laid-off Tesla employees reportedly experienced a mix-up with their severance packages.

CEO Elon Musk emailed workers about the issue on Wednesday, saying it had "come to my attention that some severance packages are incorrectly low," CNBC reported.

Earlier in the week, Tesla had disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that it planned to lay off 10% of its workers.

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"My apologies for this mistake," Musk went on to say in the email about the severance package issue, according to CNBC. "It is being corrected immediately."

Elon Musk

Elon Musk speaks onstage during The New York Times Dealbook Summit 2023 at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Nov. 29, 2023, in New York City. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for The New York Times / Getty Images)

Tesla did not respond to FOX Business' request for comment.

With more than 140,400 employees at the end of 2023, Tesla's 10% cut could result in 14,000 people losing their jobs.

When announcing the job cuts, Tesla said the company has seen a "duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas" amid its "rapid growth" in recent years. 

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TSLA TESLA INC. 180.37 -2.91 -1.59%

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Tesla disclosed alongside the layoffs that its senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, Andrew Baglino, had left after an 18-year stint at the company.

Tesla

"We believe it is extremely important to look at every aspect of the Company for cost reductions and increasing productivity," the EV maker said. "This action will prepare Tesla for our next phase of growth, as we are developing some of the most revolutionary technologies in auto, energy and artificial intelligence."

Tesla reported earlier this month that its quarterly deliveries declined for the first time in nearly four years and fell short of Wall Street analysts' estimates. The automaker delivered about 387,000 vehicles in the first quarter – well below expectations of about 443,000 and an 8.5% decrease compared with the first quarter of last year.

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In late January, as the company released its fourth-quarter results, Tesla told analysts and investors that it was "between two major growth waves: the first one began with the global expansion of the Model3/Y platform and the next one we believe will be initiated by the global expansion of the next-generation vehicle platform." 

Tesla Dealership

New Tesla electric vehicles fill the car lot at the Tesla retail location on Route 347 in Smithtown, New York, on July 5, 2023. (Photo by John Paraskevas/Newsday RM via Getty Images / Getty Images)

It said its vehicle growth rate "may be notably lower" than 2023’s "as our teams work on the launch of the next-generation vehicle at Gigafactory Texas."

FOX Business' Stephen Sorace and Eric Revell contributed to this report.