Tesla to cut 9% of staff as Elon Musk's electric car company seeks profitability

CEO says thousands of job losses are part of a 'difficult, but necessary' restructuring

Tesla is slashing thousands of jobs, its chief executive, Elon Musk, announced Tuesday, as the electronic car company attempts to hit production targets and reach profitability.

Musk called the job cuts, which will affect about 9% of the company's more than 40,000 employees, "difficult, but necessary" in a tweet that contained the email he had sent to employees announcing the layoffs.