Rivian, Amazon, and Apple are snapping up laid-off Tesla employees amid Elon Musk's workforce-reduction plans

• Major companies are picking up Tesla workers after Elon Musk announced mass layoffs.
• Rivian, Apple, and Amazon claimed the majority of ex-Tesla staff, according to LinkedIn data.

Laid-off Tesla workers may not be on the job market for long.

Major tech companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google have taken in dozens of former Tesla employees, according to a report from Punks & Pinstripes. The organization tracked the LinkedIn data of over 450 Tesla employees who left the company over the past 90 days as of June 30.

A large number of the people moved to work for other electric-vehicle companies. Ninety former Tesla employees joined the electric-car makers Rivian and Lucid Motors, according to the LinkedIn data. Meanwhile, only eight of the departures moved to more traditional automakers, including General Motors and Ford, Pinstripes & Punks said.

The EV-battery-recycling company Redwood Materials and the Amazon-backed autonomous-driving company Zoox also claimed a portion of the workers.

Over 100 of the former Tesla staffers transferred to Amazon and Apple, the organization reported. Apple has hired top Tesla talent in the past. Last year, the tech company snatched Tesla's former Autopilot software director Christopher Moore amid whispers of Apple's car project, code-named Project Titan.

The LinkedIn data came only a few weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the company was cutting up to 3.5% of its total workforce, including 10% of salaried staff. Insider's Isobel Asher Hamilton previously reported that the layoffs began within days of Musk's announcement. The decision came after the billionaire said the US was already in the middle of a recession.

It's not the first time that recruiters at top tech companies have shown interest in Tesla talent. Last month, recruiters at Amazon and Microsoft issued a call to Tesla staff who might be looking to leave the company after Musk told employees to return to the office full time or resign.

"If the Emperor of Mars doesn't want you, I'll be happy to bring you over to #AWS," Zafar Choudhury, a recruiting leader at Amazon Web Services, wrote on LinkedIn, referencing Musk's fixation on colonizing Mars.

It's no surprise tech companies are eager to snatch ex-Tesla staff. Tesla has a high bar for its workers. At Tesla, Musk has pushed for lofty goals and demanded excellence. The CEO has said he looks for candidates with firsthand experience and hands-on testing over a degree.

But experts have said Musk's return-to-office ultimatum may set off a talent exodus.

Tesla employees have been rocked by a series of changes since Musk issued his ultimatum. Last week, Financial Times reported workers were struggling to find desks and parking spots at Tesla's Fremont, California, factory because of Musk's plans for workers to return to the office for 40 hours a week. Meanwhile, Insider was first to report that employees who hadn't returned to the office for at least 16 days over the past month received an automated email monitoring how often they'd "badged in" at the office.

Over the past few weeks, Musk has repeatedly expressed concern for the future of the company. Last month, the Tesla CEO said that Tesla's new factories in Austin, Texas, and Berlin had become "gigantic money furnaces." On Saturday, Tesla reported its sales had dropped by nearly 18% between April and June.

The electric-car maker isn't the only tech company facing headwinds. On Thursday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social-media company planned to scale back hiring. Earlier in June, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the crypto platform would lay off 18% of its total workforce. Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon have slowed growth in some sectors as well.

Do you work at Tesla or have a tip to share? Reach out to the reporter from a nonwork email at gkay@insider.com.