Elon Musk’s Tesla just lost another longtime executive, continuing a wave of resignations at the $700 billion electric vehicle maker this year.
Sreela Venkataratnam posted on LinkedIn that she was leaving the company after 11 years to take a break and “spend more time with family, reconnect with old friends and focus on her personal well-being.” Venkataratnam’s departure is the latest in a string of at least six other high-ranking executives who left the company this year amid massive layoffs and the firing of nearly the entire Tesla Supercharger team. In April, three executives quit within two weeks, including longtime vice president of investor relations Martin Viecha, senior vice president Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel, vice president of public policy and business development.
In her farewell post, Venkataratnam described her tenure at the company as “nothing short of extraordinary.” She joined Tesla when revenue was less than $1 billion and the market cap was less than $4 billion. When she left, annual revenue was nearly $100 billion and the market cap hit $1 trillion during the pandemic before falling again, Venkataratnam wrote. Tesla has rattled its non-diehard investors with troubles in recent years, including a 30 percent drop in value, hiring slowdowns and job cuts. The company suspended its summer internship program. Meanwhile, this year the company was able to persuade Tesla investors to re-approve Musk’s eye-popping $56 billion pay package after a judge overturned it in January. Venkataratnam’s departure leaves another woman in the company’s vice president role, she said, and follows the departure of another top female executive, Allie Arebalo, who was chief human resources officer and left the company after six years.
Venkataratnam wrote that she was grateful for her time at the company and hoped to find another “incredible opportunity like Tesla” when she was ready for another job. Colleagues and supporters wished her well, including Jason Wheeler, who congratulated her on “a fantastic time at a company that hasn’t always been easy to work at.”
Venkataratnam responded, “This is definitely not for the faint of heart! It’s been great working with you, especially during these tough days!” Wheeler’s LinkedIn profile states that he was chief financial officer and senior advisor at Tesla from 2015 to 2017.
Not all Tesla departures have been so happy. Rich Otto, head of product launches, resigned in May as part of the layoffs, writing in his departure that the cuts “shook the company and its morale.”
“Great companies are made of equal parts great people and great products, and the latter is only possible when people are doing well,” Otto wrote in a post on LinkedIn. He said layoffs and the impact on company culture had disrupted the harmony at Tesla and he needed a change.
“It is a company that I love and that has given me so much, but has also taken my heart and soul into it,” Otto wrote.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
