Elon Musk’s Tesla simply misplaced one other long-time veteran government, persevering with the spree of resignations on the $700 billion electric-vehicle maker this yr.
Sreela Venkataratnam posted on LinkedIn that she was leaving after 11 years to take a break and spend “high quality time with household, reconnect with outdated mates, and concentrate on private well-being.” Venkataratnam’s exit is the newest in a line of at the very least six different high-profile executives who left this yr, amid large layoffs and the axing of practically the whole Tesla Supercharger workforce. Throughout the month of April, three executives give up within the house of two weeks, together with longtime vice chairman of investor relations Martin Viecha, senior vice chairman Drew Baglino, and Rohan Patel, vice chairman of public coverage and enterprise growth.
In her farewell publish, Venkataratnam described her journey on the firm as “nothing in need of extraordinary.” She joined when Tesla had lower than $1 billion in revenues and was underneath $4 billion in market cap. As she left, annual revenues have been nearing $100 billion with the market cap hitting $1 trillion through the pandemic earlier than it dropped, Venkataratnam wrote. Tesla has rattled its non die-hard buyers with struggles in recent times, together with a 30% decline in worth, hiring slowdowns and job cuts. It suspended its summer season internship program. In the meantime, the corporate this yr rallied Tesla buyers to reapprove Musk’s eye-popping pay bundle, valued at $56 billion, after a choose rescinded it in January. Venkataratnam’s exit leaves one different lady in a VP position on the firm, she mentioned, and follows the exit of one other prime feminine government, Allie Arebalo, who was head of human sources and left after six years.
Venkataratnam wrote she was grateful for her time on the firm and hoped to search out one other “unimaginable alternative like Tesla” when she was prepared for an additional job. Colleagues and supporters wished her properly, together with one, Jason Wheeler, who congratulated her on “an incredible run at an organization that wasn’t all the time straightforward to work at.”
Venkataratnam replied, “It’s undoubtedly not for the faint of coronary heart! It was nice working with you particularly throughout these robust days!” Wheeler’s LinkedIn profile states he was chief monetary officer and a senior advisor at Tesla from 2015 to 2017.
Not all Tesla departures have been as jovial. Head of product launches Wealthy Otto give up in Could amid the layoffs and wrote as he left that the cuts have been “rocking the corporate and its morale.”
“Nice corporations are made up of equal elements nice folks and nice merchandise, and the latter are solely attainable when its persons are thriving,” Otto wrote in a publish on LinkedIn. He mentioned job cuts and the affect on the office tradition threw the concord out of whack at Tesla and left him needing a change.
“It’s an organization I like and that has given me a lot, however has additionally taken its pound of flesh,” Otto wrote.
Tesla didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.