After Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog shared with their followers the contents of an article that reposted a confidential internal Tesla email, Elon Musk has decided to end his association with the prominent Tesla personalities.
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Yesterday, The Information magazine posted an article containing leaked confidential Tesla information, which Tesla community leaders Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog shared with their followers.
This activity is regular for the two individuals who share Tesla news daily. In addition to Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog, The Information’s article was also picked up by all major media outlets and widely discussed.
However, in a surprise move, in response to this seemingly mundane action, Elon Musk has decided to end his association with Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog.
First, here is some background about the controversy: Yesterday, The Information magazine broke the news that Musk has decided to fire Tesla’s Senior Director of Charging Infrastructure, Rebecca Tunnuci.
Together with this move, The Information also reported that Musk had decided to let go of 500 employees in the Tesla charging team who directly reported to Tunucci.
In addition to letting go of the entire charging team responsible for Tesla’s exemplary supercharger network, the information reported that Musk has also decided to fire Daniel Ho, Head of New Products at Tesla.
As if all this wasn’t enough, it was also reported that Musk had disbanded the Public Policy & Business Development team formerly headed by departing Tesla executive Rohan Patel.
These headcount reductions follow recent massive restructurings at Tesla, during which the EV maker laid off 10% of its employees or 15,000 workers in a single day. Musk, announcing the cuts, said, “There’s nothing more I hate, but it must be done. It’s hard to say goodbye.”
Tesla recently posted its weakest quarterly results since 2019. The EV maker said vehicle deliveries in the year's first quarter fell by 20% and reported a negative free cash flow of $2.5 billion.
Following the Q1 results, Musk has been making several changes at Tesla, including letting go of top executives who have gone on to air their dirty laundry in public, even going so far as to call Elon Musk a “pigeon CEO.”
Amid this turbulent time for Tesla, Musk has been making several tough decisions to improve Tesla’s financial performance.
Tesla's CEO has been public about the changes he’s making at the EV maker; however, Musk appears to be unhappy that his recent measures to cut costs at Tesla have come out.
In addition to reporting on the recent firings, The Information also shared an email Musk sent to top executives.
In the email, Musk is quoted as saying that some Tesla executives are not doing enough to reduce costs and headcount in their respective departments.
After disbanding the entire charging team, Musk threatened the remaining Tesla executives, stating, "Starting at 10 AM EST Tuesday, I will ask for the resignation of any executive who retains more than three people who don't obviously pass the excellent, necessary, and trustworthy test... I have been super clear about this."
Musk, unhappy with the widespread dissemination of these internal Tesla matters to the public, has turned his ire on some of his ardent supporters and Tesla community leaders.
If you are unfamiliar with the two individuals, Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog (Omar Qazi), are two of the most prominent online voices sharing daily news about Tesla and the broader EV and tech space.
In addition to their reporting on Tesla matters, the two individuals are also Tesla investors and leaders in the Tesla retail investor community.
Whole Mars Catalog and Sawyer Merritt, together with other prominent Tesla community members, are also currently spearheading efforts for Tesla investors to re-ratify Elon Musk’s 2018 $54 billion compensation package, which was recently struck down by a Delaware judge.
Thanks to their diligent work reporting Tesla news and rallying Tesla investors, also partly supported by Elon Musk’s nod of approval, these online personalities have grown to amass hundreds of thousands of X followers each.
Sawyer Merritt now has more than 665,000 followers on X, whereas Whole Mars Catalog has 460,000 followers on the same platform.
Interestingly enough, these individuals have been the loudest voices supporting some of Musk’s controversial decisions regarding Tesla and his other companies.
However, after sharing the contents of The Information’s piece on Musk’s recent decision to disband the entire charging team, the Tesla CEO appears to no longer want to associate with the online personalities and Tesla community leaders.
As of last night, Musk has removed Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog from the select group of individuals the Tesla CEO follows on his preferred social media platform, X.
Currently, Musk has over 181 million followers on X, and constantly interacting with Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog has undoubtedly helped these online personalities reach a wider audience.
Baffled by his latest decision to unfollow Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog, several Tesla community members have reached out to Elon Musk, pleading that he once again follows the Tesla community leaders.
One individual wrote on X, “Curious Elon, why unfollow Sawyer? I suspect he breaks more news on TSLA than what employees are telling you half the time.”
However, Musk appears unrelenting and responded simply by stating, “Don’t post leaks of confidential information and expect me to follow.”
As stated by Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog, since The Information first posted the contents of his email, whatever the two individuals shared was no longer “confidential information.”
However, Musk appears to be aware of this fact and seems specifically irked that these individuals, who have gained almost celebrity status in part due to his promotion, spread this news to their followers.
During a prior Tesla controversy, the EV maker denied access to some prominent Tesla community members from attending the company’s event for leaking Tesla information. Since then, both Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog have largely avoided leaking any non-publicly unavailable Tesla information.
Because of this, both Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog appear to be taken aback by Musk’s decision. The two individuals have made their voices heard against Musk’s recent action, stating that they only shared publicly available information reported by The Information.
Whole Mars Catalog wrote on X. “I love Elon, but I’m not going to not discuss an article someone wrote because he’s upset about it. If he has to unfollow me and everyone makes fun of me as a result of doing my job for my followers, I am proud of that.”
Whole Mars Catalog added, “The article was already out there. I just quoted it. If he wants to unfollow me over that, it’s okay. It doesn’t make a difference to me. My primary responsibility is to you, my readers.”
Sawyer Merritt, addressing the same issue, stated, “This is what happened: Omar [Whole Mars Catalog] and I posted an article from The Information last night that we saw online. It was a public article that referenced an internal Tesla email from Elon Musk to his executives.”
The facts here are incontrovertible: both Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog only shared publicly available information. However, since these individuals have significantly benefited from his influence, Musk perhaps wants them to return the favor and censor leaked Tesla information even when the information has been made public by other outlets.
Whether you agree with Musk’s logic or not, as of writing, the Tesla CEO hasn’t reversed his decision to unfollow both individuals.
However, we would love to know your opinion regarding Musk's decision to unfollow Sawyer Merritt and Whole Mars Catalog in the comments below. Please click the red “Add new comment” button below to let your opinions be heard.
We’ll be sure to keep you posted as the story unfolds. Until then, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.
Image: Screenshot from Elon Musk’s TED interview
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Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.
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