Palo Alto, California - Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said on Monday in an email to staff that an
unnamed Tesla employee had conducted "extensive and damaging
sabotage" to the company's operations including allegedly making
unspecified code changes to its manufacturing operating system
and sending what the email said was sensitive Tesla data to
unnamed third parties.
"The full extent of his actions are not yet clear, but what
he has admitted to so far is pretty bad," Musk wrote. "His
stated motivation is that he wanted a promotion that he did not
receive."
Musk said in the email he learned about this alleged behaviour over the weekend, but did not specify to whom he was referring. Company spokeswoman Gina Antonini declined to comment on the email and Reuters could not independently confirm any of the claims in
the email.
Musk wrote that the company would be investigating the
matter this week, adding that Tesla needed to determine if the
person was acting alone or in concert with "any outside
organisations".
"As you know, there are a long list of organizations that
want Tesla to die," Musk wrote, saying they included Wall Street
short-sellers, oil and gas companies, and car company rivals but
naming none.