A Tesla engineer quit after 8 years and slammed Elon Musk’s leadership on the way out
Summary
Giorgio Balestrieri, a Tesla engineer who joined in 2017 and rose to staff algorithms engineer, announced on LinkedIn that he is leaving the company after eight years. He said Elon Musk’s leadership has “dealt huge damage to Tesla’s mission” and described Musk’s decision-making as “seriously compromised.”
Balestrieri worked on Tesla’s autobidder energy‑trading platform — a core part of the company’s energy-storage business — and said he could no longer convince himself that Tesla was the right place to be given Musk’s large stake and public behaviour.
He accused Musk of lying to the public, manipulating discourse, targeting minorities, and supporting climate‑change deniers and political forces aligned with oil and gas. The resignation adds to growing scrutiny of Musk as Tesla faces investor pushback and high‑profile shareholder votes.
Source
Key Points
- Giorgio Balestrieri quit after eight years at Tesla and publicly criticised Elon Musk’s leadership on LinkedIn.
- He said Musk has “dealt huge damage to Tesla’s mission” and that his leadership and decision‑making are “seriously compromised.”
- Balestrieri led Tesla’s European autobidder algorithms; autobidder lets batteries trade electricity and supports Tesla’s energy business.
- His post accused Musk of lying, manipulating public discourse, targeting minorities, and backing climate‑change sceptics and oil‑aligned politics.
- The resignation comes amid wider scrutiny: investors are debating a large proposed pay package for Musk and Tesla’s strategic pivots, and some shareholders have voiced concerns.
- Other employees have previously left citing Musk’s outside activities (eg, social‑media and political involvement) as distractions from Tesla’s mission.
Why should I read this?
Quick and blunt: someone who helped build a key part of Tesla’s energy business quit and called out Musk by name. If you care about EVs, the energy transition or corporate governance, this is the sort of inside signal that can matter — and no, you don’t need to slog through the LinkedIn thread; we’ve done that for you.
Context and relevance
The story highlights the tension between a founder’s public actions and a company’s mission. It matters because it ties internal morale and talent retention to external politics and investor decisions — including a looming shareholder vote on a big pay package and potential funding for Musk’s other ventures. For the energy transition and climate policy watchers, employee departures over political and ethical concerns are a reminder that corporate leadership choices can have operational and reputational consequences.