Tesla Executive Drew Baglino Sells $181.5M in Shares amid Company’s Strategic Shift and Declining Financials

Former Tesla executive Drew Baglino sold shares worth $181.5 million just days after announcing his departure from the electric vehicle company amid recent staff layoffs and declining first-quarter revenue, according to a filing with the SEC. The sale follows two earlier transactions this year in which he unloaded around $4m of stock options each time. Baglino joined Tesla as an engineer back in 2006 before rising through the ranks to become senior vice president for powertrain and energy engineering – a role that saw him report directly to CEO Elon Musk, who described him as “unofficial chief of operations”. With his shares sale approved on April 25, Baglino listed an approximate date but said he’d been exercising stock options. The move comes at the same time Tesla is shifting strategy following a steep drop in share price and reports that CEO Elon Musk wants investors to focus more on its “autonomy roadmap” rather than affordable new electric cars, which are planned for 2025 instead. Shares climbed after the recent call, with analysts questioning whether promised cheaper models will be entirely new or just tweaks of existing ones as competition increases globally and Tesla reports a net income drop in Q1 alongside its steepest year-on-year revenue decline since 2012 at nine per cent. Baglino’s resignation follows that of fellow executive Rohan Patel, with neither Musk nor the company commenting on his decision to leave during what many analysts say could be a major turning point for Tesla and its investors alike.