Nio founder, chairman and CEO William Li said he's completely unaware of any new layoff plans.

(Rumors circulating on Weibo about Nio's new layoff plans.)

These rumors have sparked widespread discussion, especially considering that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) just announced plans to lay off 10 percent of its workforce globally.

In an internal letter dated November 3, 2023, Li outlined Nio's plans for organizational optimization, saying that the company would reduce positions by around 10 percent and emphasize greater execution efficiency.

The company will improve resource efficiency by deferring or cutting investments in projects that do not contribute to the company's financial performance over a three-year period, Li mentioned at the time.

The layoffs were completed in November last year. At the time, some local media reported that Nio's battery and smartphone businesses were likely to be the most affected.

A month later, on December 7, Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter as saying that Nio may make further layoffs to cut costs and improve efficiency.

Nio was quick to counter, saying it had no plans for further layoffs and would continue to make dynamic adjustments in the markets it operates in.

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