Elon Musk Wants To Slash 10% Tesla Jobs, Freeze Hiring Worldwide Due To 'Super Bad Feeling:' Report

After sternly asking employees to come back to the office and ditch remote work, Tesla, Inc. TSLA CEO Elon Musk has reportedly warned of job cuts at the electric vehicle company.

Musk wrote an email titled "pause all hiring worldwide" to Tesla executives on Thursday, wherein he suggested he has a "super bad feeling" about the economy and wants to cut 10% of jobs at Tesla, Reuters reported, citing an internal email.

This would equate to about 10,000 personnel, given the company employed about 100,000 people at the end of 2021, according to its 10-K filing.

Incidentally, Musk tweeted in late May that the U.S. economy is already in a recession and that the next 12-18 months could be "tough." That said, the Tesla CEO noted a recession is actually a necessary part of the economic cycle.

Related Link: Is Elon Musk Risking Loss Of Talent With Tesla's Return To Office Push?

The Reuters report comes against the backdrop of Musk's recent stern messages to employees in two separate emails, urging them to return to the office or face the prospects of getting fired.

The U.S. economy is currently facing the prospect of an economic slowdown, accompanied by a surge in inflation — a condition called stagflation in economic parlance. The Fed was forced to shed its accommodative monetary policy stance and raise rates in a bid to rein in inflation, which was hovering at 40-year highs, even if it meant risking the fragile growth.

The U.S. Labor Department is scheduled to release its monthly non-farm payrolls report for May on Friday, with the consensus calling for an addition of 328,000 jobs compared to the 428,000 job additions in April. The jobless rate, based on the household survey, is expected to edge down from 3.6% in April to 3.5% in May.

Price Action: In premarket trading Friday, Tesla stock was slipping 3.13% to $715.74, according to Benzinga Pro data.