Tesla Loses Sales Executive to Airbnb During Elon Musk's Year-End Push
Tesla Inc.’s senior director of global sales and marketing has left the electric-car maker for Airbnb.
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc.’s senior director of global sales and marketing has left the electric-car maker in the midst of a year-end deliveries push to join home-sharing startup Airbnb Inc.
Dan Kim, who joined Tesla in January, declined to comment on the move via LinkedIn, where he’s updated his profile. He’s become director of Airbnb Plus, a more premium service in which higher-end homes have to pass the company’s quality inspections.
Tesla shares have rallied in the months since its record third-quarter earnings report, as Elon Musk moves to make selling electric cars a financially sustainable business. The chief executive officer has said he’s expecting another profit and positive free cash flow in the fourth quarter, feats that which will largely depend on brisk sales of the Model 3 sedan.
Musk has sent multiple tweets in the last few days to encourage customers to place orders and take delivery before the $7,500 federal tax credit for Tesla purchases is halved starting in January.
Kim is the second major sales executive to leave Tesla this year, as Musk has struggled to retain senior managers. Jon McNeill, Tesla’s former president of global sales, marketing, delivery and service, joined Lyft Inc. in February to become chief operating officer. During an earnings call that month, Musk said sales and service personnel would report to him and ruled out a search for McNeill’s replacement.
Two months later, Robin Ren, who had been vice president of Asia Pacific operations, became VP of worldwide sales.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dana Hull in San Francisco at dhull12@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Melinda Grenier
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