Tesla is reducing its workforce by more than 10%, per an internal memo seen by Business Insider.
Earlier this month, Tesla's delivery numbers slumped below Wall Street expectations.
The carmaker employs over 140,000 people across the globe.
Tesla is the latest major company to lay off employees.
The company is eliminating"more than 10%" of staff globally, according to an internal memo sent by Elon Musk on Sunday, which was seen by Business Insider. The layoffs come shortly after the carmaker posted lackluster delivery numbers.
Musk wrote in the email, "There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done. This will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth cycle."
Some Tesla employees lost access to their emails and Teams by Monday, two people with knowledge said.
Tesla's first-quarter delivery numbers revealed a significant slump — falling below Wall Street's estimates. Tesla deliveries in the first quarter fell 20% from the previous quarter and over 8% from the same time the previous year, marking the company's first year-on-year sales decline since 2020.
In a press release, Tesla blamed the decline in deliveries on its production ramp for its refreshed Model 3, an arson attack at its factory in Berlin, and supply-chain issues caused by the Red Sea conflict.
There have been rumors of a coming layoff in recent months. In February,the carmaker reportedly called for managers to begin identifying the most vital roles for the company. At the time, Tesla also delayed some workers' performance reviews, Bloomberg reported. The reviews were later rescheduled, three sources told Business Insider.
A spokesperson for Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a history of reducing staff to cut costs. The billionaire famously cut Twitter's workforce in half after he purchased the company in 2022. And Tesla has conducted multiple rounds of layoffs before.
Last year, Tesla laid off dozens of its employees working on its Autopilot service at one of its sites in Buffalo, New York. At the time, the company said the terminations had nothing to do with a union campaign at the facility that had been announced the week before. The company said it dismissed the employees for poor performance.
Tesla appeared to slow down its hiring last year. Musk told staff in May that he must personally approve all new Tesla hires.
Musk has also warned that Tesla could face production hurdles in the coming year as it tries to ramp up production of the Cybertruck and Tesla's next-gen vehicle platform.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Do you work for Tesla or have insight to share? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work email and device at gkay@insider.com
The author moved from Saudi Arabia to Houston, Texas.
Courtesy of the author
My brother had a rare cancer that force my family to move from Saudi Arabia to Houston.
I was fluent in English before we moved because I went to an international private school in Saudi.
I don't think one school system is better than the other, I like and dislike things from both.
My Texan middle school was vibrant, a large fine arts hub tucked in West University, Houston. It had Glass ceilings, rooms cluttered with cellos and trumpets, art plastered over rows of lockers, and a baseball and football field to match. The weekly bake sales were just as much of a staple as our daily recitation of the Texas pledge.
But life at an American school was only a part-time gig for me. Growing up, my older brother had osteosarcoma. The cancer diagnosis led my family to uproot our lives in my home country of Saudi Arabia and move to Houston for him to seek treatment.
From the desert to Cowboy County, I ended up trying everything from public to private to online school.
"Where do you like it better?" I was asked the same questions in various accents and languages throughout every grade. The answer is not straightforward, as there are things I liked and disliked from my experiences.
My English was good when I moved to the US
My parents always did their best to enroll me in international schools in Saudi, as they were the only ones who taught in English. My Arabic reading and writing skills were too weak over the years to handle the high level of Arabic grammar and literature taught in Saudi public schools.
In Texas, a good education meant moving into the "good" neighborhoods to be zoned for the "good" schools. In Saudi, it meant succumbing to private school tuition, as only international private schools taught in English.
My schedule was packed in Saudi Arabia
My backpack was jam-packed with thick books from the sheer number of subjects we had to juggle in Saudi schools. At a mere 10 years of age, I was taking Arabic, French, English, Islamic, Algebra, natural sciences and history.
Mornings consisted of a mandatory assembly at the front of the school to do a short series of stretches to prep ourselves for the day and hear announcements from the headmistress.
Although school only ran from 7 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., I was putting pencil to paper for a significantly longer period of time than in Texas. Pencils, paper, and hard steel desks. A simple room for a simple task — getting the grades. I always felt a stronger desire to adhere to order and perfection when in Saudi and perhaps the design of our classrooms was an unconscious form of encouragement to focus. I found the difference in schooling to be reflective of the culture and general mindset of life. No frills.
While my visually barren classrooms were a nightmare for me, my Saudi classmates didn't give it one thought. A class schedule and wall clock were enough. I missed the posters stapled on tops of posters with dangling flyers that colored the walls of my American schools. For me, the messy and vibrant visuals made me happier.
I was allowed to experiment with creativity in the US
In the US, you are not only left to linger in thought but encouraged to do so. We were asked to experiment and play. In Saudi, you ask yourself long-term life questions early. Do I want to be a doctor? Do I want to be an engineer? I love to dream, but there is something comforting about approaching your future in a definitive way and choosing your goals early on.
Because of the laser focus on academics in Saudi, I was unable to find the time to explore my creativity through the arts until a much older age when musical instruments, painting, and writing became more accessible. As uncoordinated as I was, it was also common to let out energy at school through sports. As a majority of schools are gender segregated in Saudi, I often felt more comfortable being bad a soccer or working up a sweat among a community of girls than I did in my mixed American schools.
Oftentimes, people would praise my academic abilities and attribute them to one schooling system over the other. I'm good at math because of my Saudi schools, but I'm good at English because of my Texan schools, or so I was told. I don't think one or the other is particularly the right way.
In reality, it was the mix of routine from the Saudi structure and the more fluid and creative methods of American schooling that allowed me to excel.
Marco Bottigelli/Getty, Yevgen Romanenko/Getty, Maskot/Getty, Tyler Le/BI
Ever since hordes of Americans began fleeing big coastal cities during the pandemic, I've been wondering when — or if — they'd return. Sure, things are less expensive in the places they moved to, and the quality of life is often higher. But more and more, urban refugees have been pining for the things they left behind, from culinary excellence to cultural diversity. Every week it seems like I see a new story about some former San Franciscan or New Yorker regretting their decision to leave.
So recently, when the Census Bureau released its new estimates for domestic migration, I thought we were finally going to see a reversal of the big-city exodus. But I was wrong. From mid-2022 to mid-2023, the bleeding in many big metropolitan areas continued. New York lost 238,000 more people than it gained. The numbers read like casualty reports: 155,000 in Los Angeles, 54,000 in San Francisco, 25,000 in Seattle. Granted, the urban flight isn't as bad as the crisis-level hemorrhaging we saw in the first year of the pandemic. But every day, hundreds and hundreds of people continue to forsake America's greatest cities for smaller, more affordable destinations.
We've heard a lot about how the mass migration has been bad for major cities, sending them into a "doom loop" of empty offices and shuttered storefronts. But a new paper coauthored by Enrico Moretti, one of the best thinkers on the geography of jobs, highlights the dangers the migration poses for the very professionals who are ditching big cities. Moving away from a major city, Moretti found, can be terrible for your career.
Moretti, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley, followed workers whose companies shut down between 2010 and 2017. How people fared after that depended on where they lived. Those who lived in small labor markets were less likely to find a new job within a year than those in large labor markets. To get back on their feet professionally, those in small markets were more likely to be forced to relocate for employment. They were also more likely to settle for a role that was misaligned with their college degree, or in an entirely different industry.
"The big takeaway is that market size matters," Moretti says. "It's clear that larger markets improve the quality of the match."
That's precisely why workers and the companies that employ them tend to cluster in the same cities. Economists call it agglomeration. Let's say you're a coder specializing in AI. You're far more likely to find a job in San Francisco than you are pretty much anywhere else in the world, because there are a lot of AI-related companies there. And it's because AI specialists flock to San Francisco that AI businesses set up shop there in the first place. That's how cities become hubs for particular industries, like finance in New York and fashion in Paris. And that's why people put up with all the downsides of cities — because it increases their odds of growing their careers. Moretti's new paper confirms that when it comes to jobs, geography is destiny.
At first it seemed as though the pandemic had rewritten that rule. With the rise of remote work, professionals thought they could afford to leave their expensive cities without a risk to their careers. If you moved to Des Moines and wound up losing your job, you could just stay put and get another work-from-home gig. Your house might be in Iowa, but your job market was still back in California or New York.
But over the past year, more and more employers have stopped hiring for remote roles. The market for WFH jobs has cratered, putting everyone who moved away from big cities at risk. If they wind up getting laid off or they outgrow their current role, living in a smaller job market is going to severely limit their career options. As Moretti's paper shows, they'll either (1) wind up unemployed for a long stretch, (2) be forced to settle for a local job they're overqualified for, or (3) have to make an abrupt and costly move back to the big city they abandoned.
Moretti characterizes being in a large labor market as "insurance" against future shocks. Living in a big city isn't just about having a good job right now. It's what sets you up for success to land your next job — and the job after that. Those who moved away from big cities effectively gave up their career insurance.
And that's not all they gave up. When you live in an industry hub, you're surrounded by professional peers, making it easier for you to accumulate knowledge and skills. That's not just because you get to collaborate in person with your coworkers every day. In a big city, you also run into people who work for other companies in your industry — on the bus, at the bar, in line at the deli. Those serendipitous conversations not only expand your professional network, they also create what economists refer to as "knowledge spillovers," helping you learn new stuff that's relevant to your work. That's why innovation, as measured by patents, is higher in large markets, and why businesses in big cities tend to have higher productivity.
These upsides to living in a big hub are less obvious than the low rents and nice homes that have lured so many professionals to smaller cities. They also take time to manifest — you have to lose your job before you realize how hard it will be to find another. So professionals haven't come to grips yet with what they gave up by moving away. "The benefits of being a big city," Moretti tells me, "have been underappreciated" during the pandemic.
Until recently, I was one of those underappreciators. In 2021, my remote job allowed me to move from San Francisco to Sacramento for my then-wife's job. We could suddenly afford a spacious two-bedroom in an apartment complex with a pool, and I loved the slower pace of life. Even after we split up, my initial plan was to stay in Sacramento. But as I started driving into San Francisco more often to meet with sources in the tech industry, I realized that being in the city was helping me come up with better story ideas. So a few months ago, I moved back to the Bay Area. Being here makes me better at my job. And if I should lose my job at some point, I know my search will go much better here, where there are more journalism jobs, than it would if I had stayed in Sacramento.
Of course, lots of professionals who left big cities during the early days of remote work will stay where they are, even if they lose their jobs. After all, one of the other trends spurred by the pandemic was the realization that career isn't everything. Plenty of people will be happy to settle for a lesser job if it means they don't have to sit in soul-crushing traffic and can have a big backyard for their kids.
But Moretti thinks the exodus from big cities is nearing an end. As the outward migration slows, he predicts, new people looking for career opportunities will flood into urban areas, more than making up for the people who left. The big hubs will resume agglomerating, just as they did in the decades leading up to the pandemic. Cities, in short, will be cities again.
"It's more a matter of when than if," Moretti says. "I never thought this was going to be a permanent change in the geography of labor."
Madison Hoff contributed reporting.
Aki Ito is a chief correspondent at Business Insider.
ElevenLabs uses AI to create realistic voiceovers. It was among an array of AI startups to land VC funding this year.
ElevenLabs
AI startups raised $60 billion last year and investors have continued to pile in on the tech in 2023.
The frenzy around AI comes after the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot.
Below are 37 pitch decks used by startups deploying AI in everything from health to property.
There's an AI gold rush right now.
Investment into startups using or creating artificial intelligence hit an all-time high in 2021, with $113.3 billion poured into the sector, per Dealroom data. This fell to $60 billion in 2022 but that figure is likely to be exceeded this year with $57 billion already invested by venture capitalists.
The investor rush is down, in part, to the release of ChatGPT in late 2022 by US startup OpenAI, cofounded by Sam Altman and Elon Musk. The chatbot became the fastest-growing app in internet history, and almost immediately disrupted education, copywriting, consultancy, and other sectors.
It's possible that it's just another bubble, akin to the short-lived Web3 fad of 2022. But proponents say AI has broader use cases and few similarities to crypto's "cynical business models". AI was also alive and well long before the current hype around generative AI.
Recent, high-profile rounds include Andreessen Horowitz and ex-GitHub CEO Nat Friedman leading an anticipated $18 million round into voice intelligence startup ElevenLabs, at a possible valuation of $100 million. Venture capitalists are also eyeing startups in the vector-database sector, where valuations are hitting up to $700 million.
These are some of the pitch decks that founders have recently used to raise millions for their AI startups, from top investors such as Temasek, Insight Partners, Alven, Index Ventures, and more.
V7 cofounders Alberto Rizzoli (CEO) and Simon Edwardsson (CTO).
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi hold a meeting in Tehran on July 19, 2022.
Sergei Savostyanov/AFP/Getty Images
Iran's attack on Israel could impact Russia's war in Ukraine.
Iran is a key arms supplier and economic partner to Russia.
A broader Middle East conflict could also boost China's regional influence at Russia's expense.
Iran's attack on Israel on Saturday is bad not only for the Middle East, but also for Russia's war in Ukraine as new fault lines emerge between Moscow and Tehran.
Grisé's piece followed a strike on Iran's embassy in Damascus, Syria, on April 1. Israel did not claim responsibility for the strike, but Iran held it accountable and vowed retaliation.
"Although it has been argued that Moscow benefits from chaos in the Middle East — diverting Western attention and resources from Ukraine — it stands to lose a great deal if the Israel-Hamas conflict escalates into a wider war," Grisé wrote.
Moscow has capitalized on instability in Syria and Libya to establish itself as a regional security guarantor, but an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East would not have the same effect, Grisé wrote.
This is in part due to Moscow's preoccupation with its war in Ukraine, Grisé wrote. Russia's partnership with Iran has also deepened in the last two years as Russia's heavily sanctioned economy became increasingly isolated.
Iran is now a critical military supplier to Russia. An Iranian "ghost fleet" has also been carrying Russian oil around the world since the war in Ukraine started, keeping Moscow's oil revenue flowing.
However, should Iran become embroiled in a wider conflict, it would not be able to provide the same level of support to Russia.
"A broader regional conflict, particularly if it involves direct conflict between Israel and Iran, would limit Iran's ability to continue serving as a military supplier to Russia," wrote Grisé.
Furthermore, "Tehran may demand more support when Russia has limited capacity to provide it," she added.
"We will reflect on additional sanctions against Iran in close cooperation with our partners, specifically on its drone and missile programs," Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said in a statement on Sunday.
A broader Middle East conflict could boost China's clout in the region at Moscow's expense
Even though Russia is preoccupied with the war in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has still managed to position himself as a potential power broker in the Middle East amid the Israel-Hamas war.
But Putin's plan could fall apart should the war spill over regionally, since Beijing is also jostling to play peacemaker.
"Russia would be especially sensitive to Chinese attempts to encroach on its influence in the Middle East," Grisé wrote in her commentary.
This is especially so since Beijing managed to deliver results in March 2023, brokering a détente between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Grisé added.
Since Russia's heavily sanctioned economy is already reliant on China, it would be even more exposed to Beijing's whims should Moscow not be able to hang onto any shred of global influence it still has.
In a statement on Sunday, Russia's foreign ministry expressed "extreme concern" at what it called "yet another dangerous escalation" in the region.
Calling for restraint, Russia's foreign ministry said it expects regional states "to resolve the existing problems through political and diplomatic means."
"What an epic night," the tech billionaire wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday.
While this isn't the first time Zuckerberg, a known martial arts enthusiast, has taken his wife to a UFC event, the couple has had a major fashion glow-up.
In October 2022, Zuckerberg and Chan attended a UFC Fight Night event together. At the time, Zuckerberg wore an army-green T-shirt, while Chan wore a floral print dress.
Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg at a UFC Fight Night event on October 1, 2022.
Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Now, it seems they have majorly stepped up their ringside fits.
Zuckerberg rocked what looked a lot like an Eminem-inspired outfit on Saturday, donning a simple white t-shirt and black pants. He also wore a chain to complete the look, leaning into some rapper swag straight out of the 2000s.
Chan, meanwhile, appeared to be trying her hand at the "mob wife" aesthetic that's gone viral on social media. Besides donning sunglasses, Chan wore a gold necklace and paired it with a slick all-black outfit.
Zuckerberg and Chan may be taking a leaf out of Bezos' and Sánchez's playbook.
In January, Bezos and Sánchez were spotted channeling the "mob chic" look when they attended the Dolce & Gabbana Party at the Milan Fashion Week.
Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos attend a Dolce & Gabbana parry in Milan in January 2024.
Jacopo Raule/Getty Images
Both glow-ups appear to mark an intentional, choreographed shift in fashion choices by tech billionaires like Zuckerberg and Bezos. Both men have abandoned low-effort, casual dressing in favor of louder luxury, with a lot more bling.
Zuckerberg has also been down to trade fits with his fellow billionaires.
In March, Zuckerberg said he did a "jersey swap" with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. The pair were photographed swapping jackets, with Huang wearing Zuckerberg's brown coat while Zuckerberg wore Huang's iconic black leather jacket.
Zuckerberg even had major watch envy when he saw Anant Ambani's Richard Mille watch during the latter's pre-wedding celebrations in March.
"You know, I never really wanted to get a watch. But after seeing that, I was like, watches are cool," Zuckerberg said then.
Representatives for Zuckerberg at Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
Former CIA director and retired general David Petraeus.
Oleksii Chumachenko/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
David Petraeus told CNN that Israel could mount a covert response against Iran's drone strikes.
"They can pursue asymmetric attacks, cyberspace, and so forth," Petraeus said.
Saturday's drone strikes mark the first time Iran has directly attacked Israel.
A former CIA director says Israel could take a covert, rather than an overt, response against the Iranian drone strikes that took place on Saturday.
"There's a whole menu of actions that they can take, not all of which are necessarily overt. They can pursue covert. They can pursue asymmetric attacks, cyberspace, and so forth," former CIA director and retired general David Petraeus told CNN on Sunday.
"And keep in mind that, of course, Washington is meeting with the other G7 countries to determine what kind of diplomatic and economic responses should follow in a coordinated effort as well," Petraeus added.
The attack, Iran said, was an act of retaliation for Israel's bombing of an Iranian diplomatic facility in Syria on April 1. The airstrike had reportedly killed several top Iranian military commanders. Saturday's attack marks the first time Iran has directly attacked Israel.
"The matter can be deemed concluded. However, should the Israeli regime make another mistake, Iran's response will be considerably more severe," the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations wrote on X on Saturday.
Conducted on the strength of Article 51 of the UN Charter pertaining to legitimate defense, Iran’s military action was in response to the Zionist regime’s aggression against our diplomatic premises in Damascus. The matter can be deemed concluded. However, should the Israeli…
— Permanent Mission of I.R.Iran to UN, NY (@Iran_UN) April 13, 2024
However, experts believe that it is unlikely that Israel won't respond to Iran's attack.
"While Iran may now say that the issue is closed, it would be very surprising to see the Israelis not feel the need to respond, given the extent of the escalation," Carmiel Arbit, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, told BI's Rebecca Rommen.
To be sure, Israel is no stranger to covert operations in Iran.
Back in 2018, Israel deployed agents from its intelligence agency, Mossad, to Tehran, where they took files from Iran's nuclear archive, per The New York Times.
The risk of a continued tit-for-tat between Israel and Iran has rattled investors, who fear that further escalation could disrupt the supply of oil.
And that, Petraeus told CNN on Sunday, isn't something that Iran wants to see.
"Iran, I don't think, wants to have that disrupted either because they export about 1.6 or 1.7 million barrels a day themselves," Petraeus said.
"So, keep your eye on that. Brent Crude is already above $90 a barrel, and it would really spike if there was something that interfered with freedom of navigation," he continued.
Representatives for Petraeus did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
Apple's global iPhone shipments dropped by nearly 10% this quarter, a new research report said.
Global smartphone shipments rose by 7.8%, as Chinese smartphone makers shipped more.
Samsung surpassed Apple's shipments by 10 million units in the first three months of the year.
In another blow to Apple, iPhone shipments fell nearly 10% in the first three months of the year, even as global smartphone shipments increased.
South Korea-based Samsung beat its American counterpart by 10 million units in the first quarter, according to a report released on Monday by market researcher International Data Corporation. Samsung regained its top spot as the smartphone maker with the highest shipments, a title it lost in the last three months of 2023.
iPhone shipments are a closely watched metric because the devices comprise the bulk of the company's sales. The company sold $69.7 billion of iPhones in the three months ending December 31, according to the company's most recent quarterly report. Services came in second, at $23.1 billion.
Apple is facing a slew of challenges this year. iPhone sales fell in China, a key market. In recent months, the company abandoned an expensive and decade-long electric vehicle project, and like other Big Tech companies, Apple was recently hit with an antitrust lawsuit by the US Justice Department.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
Global smartphone shipments rose for a third straight quarter,up 7.8% year-over-year, signaling a rebound in the overall industry. Last year, annual shipments rose 8.1% from 2022, when they fell lower than 2013 levels due to weak demand and inflation.
"There is a shift in power among the Top 5 companies, which will likely continue as market players adjust their strategies in a post-recovery world," Nabila Popal, an IDC research director, wrote in Monday's report. Apple and Samsung "both saw negative growth in the first quarter, it seems Samsung is in a stronger position overall than they were in recent quarters."
Both Apple and Samsung saw a drop in year-on-year shipments, while Chinese manufacturers Xiaomi and Transsion saw close to a 34% and 85% rise, respectively,from the first quarter last year, per the IDC report.
Mark Cuban (left) and former President Donald Trump (right).
Michael Reaves via Getty Images; Joe Raedle via Getty Images
Mark Cuban says he'll be paying $288 million in taxes to the IRS.
"I pay what I owe," Cuban wrote on X.
The billionaire says he's "proud to pay my taxes every single year," unlike one ex-president.
Billionaire Mark Cuban says he's happy to pay his fair share of taxes — unlike one former president.
"I pay what I owe. Tomorrow I will wire transfer to the IRS $288,000,000.00," Cuban wrote on X on Sunday.
"This country has done so much for me, I'm proud to pay my taxes every single year. Tag a former president that you know doesn't," Cuban added, in what appeared to be a jab at former President Donald Trump.
I pay what I owe.
Tomorrow I will wire transfer to the IRS
$288,000,000.00
This country has done so much for me, I’m proud to pay my taxes every single year.
"I don't want a snake oil salesperson as president," Cuban said of Trump.
"Trump voters are happy with their snake oil whether it works or not," he told Axios.
All things said, Trump hasn't been the biggest fan of Cuban either.
"I know Mark Cuban well. He backed me big-time but I wasn't interested in taking all of his calls. He's not smart enough to run for president!" Trump said of Cuban back in February 2017.
Cuban said he had nothing further to add when BI approached him for comment.
Trump has been evasive when it comes to talking about his tax returns. When he was first elected in 2016, Trump claimed that he was under audit and would release his tax returns when it was complete.
Parts of Trump's past tax returns were also obtained by media outlets like The New York Times. In 2021, The Times reported that it had obtained more than two decades' worth of tax returns for Trump and his businesses.
According to The Times, Trump did not pay any federal income taxes for 10 years. The former president paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017, per the outlet.
Trump's finances have come under intense scrutiny, particularly as his legal debts continue to pile up.
On April 1, Trump posted a $175 million bond for his New York civil fraud case after an appeals court slashed the amount he was required to pay. Trump was originally ordered to pay a bond of $454 million.
Trump experienced a brief turn in fortunes last month when shares for his social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, skyrocketed after it went public.
According to Bloomberg, Trump's net worth went up by more than $4 billion when Trump Media's shares rallied.
Amazon has been trying to compete with other major grocery stores including Trader Joe's.
John Keeble/Getty Images, Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
In 2016, Amazon launched a private-label brand, Wickedly Prime, to compete with Trader Joe's.
The company hired a former senior manager at Trader Joe's snack division, per WSJ.
The employee was hounded for data on Trader Joe's best-selling snacks and margins for each product.
An Amazon team that was developing the online giant's private-label food brand, Wickedly Prime, repeatedly pressured an ex-Trader Joe's senior manager for data that could help the company compete with the popular grocer, The Wall Street Journal reported.
In 2016, Amazon launched Wickedly Prime, which sells an assortment of food and snacks like roasted cashews and garlic mustard aioli. The project was just one of a few ways Amazon was entering the food space.
According to the Journal, Amazon appeared to have a model it wanted to replicate for Wickedly Prime: Trader Joe's.
So the company hired a former senior manager from the grocery store's snack foods division. The Journal reported that she was told only after being recruited that her role was to help create a product line for Amazon's private label.
According to the report, Amazon wanted to replicate the top 200 items sold at Trader Joe's. Because this data is not readily available, an Amazon manager repeatedly hounded the ex-Trader Joe's employee — who is not named in the Journal's article — for six months over data on the store's top products.
Eventually, according to the report, the former Trader Joe's employee gave up the requested data after the manager demanded that she hand over any emails and documents she preserved from her time with the grocer.
The Amazon manager also pressed the ex-Trader Joe's employee for data on the margins for each product. She refused, and the manager resorted to yelling at the employee, according to the Journal.
"You just have to give us the data!" the manager yelled, according to a source who saw the interaction and recalled it to the newspaper.
The Amazon team soon distributed the data on Trader Joe's top-selling products and thought about how it could take advantage of it, the Journal reported. But another employee soon reported the use of Trader Joe's data to Amazon's legal department.
According to the report, the employees who accessed the data were eventually fired.
A spokesperson for Amazon did not respond to a request for comment sent during the weekend.
"We do not condone the misuse of proprietary confidential information, and thoroughly investigate any reports of employees doing so and take action, which may include termination," an Amazon spokesperson told the Journal.
The former Trader Joe's employee's experience gives an inside look at Amazon'sbroader, aggressive efforts to compete with other grocers.
When Amazon was preparing to launch its own line of food and household products around 2015, it filed for trademark protection in more than 20 product categories, from coffee and pasta to razors and cleaners.
The online retailer opened its first brick-and-mortar Amazon Fresh grocery store three years later.
Trader Joe's established a cult following with its customers partly by developing snacks and foods through its private label. But a recent investigation from Taste, a food publication, alleged that the popular grocer may be copying products from small food brands.
A Trader Joe's spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment sent during the weekend.